Volume Iii Part 81 (2/2)

A sc.r.a.p of gossip at the ferry; A comrade neither glum nor merry,

Asking nothing, revealing naught, But minting his words from a fund of thought.

A keeper of silence eloquent, Needy, yet royally well content,

Of the mettled breed, yet abhorring strife, And full of the mellow juice of life,

A taster of wine, with an eye for a maid Never too bold, and never afraid,

Never heart-whole, never heart-sick, (These are the things I wors.h.i.+p in d.i.c.k)

No fidget and no reformer, just A calm observer of ought and must,

A lover of books, but a reader of man, No cynic and no charlatan,

Who never defers and never demands, But, smiling, takes the world in his hands,--

Seeing it good as when G.o.d first saw And gave it the weight of his will for law.

And O the joy that is never won, But follows and follows the journeying sun,

By marsh and tide, by meadow and stream, A will-o'-the-wind, a light-o'-dream,

Delusion afar, delight anear, From morrow to morrow, from year to year,

A jack-o'-lantern, a fairy fire, A dare, a bliss, and a desire!

The racy smell of the forest loam, When the stealthy, sad-heart leaves go home;

(O leaves, O leaves, I am one with you, Of the mould and the sun and the wind and the dew!)

The broad gold wake of the afternoon; The silent fleck of the cold new moon;

The sound of the hollow sea's release From stormy tumult to starry peace;

With only another league to wend; And two brown arms at the journey's end!

These are the joys of the open road-- For him who travels without a load.

Bliss Carman [1861-1929]

THE SONG OF THE FOREST RANGER

Oh, to feel the fresh breeze blowing From lone ridges yet untrod!

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