Classic Poem

Far in the forest shade,
Free as the deer to roam,
Where ne'er a fence was laid,
I'll search me out a home.
I love not cities vast,
Where want and wealth abide,
And all extremes are cast
To jumble side by side.

Far in the leafy woods,
Beside the lonely stream,
Where avarice ne'er intrudes
Her snorting car of steam;
Give me the cabin rude
Of unhewn beechen-tree,
And one both fair and good,
With heart that beats for me.

Away with pictured walls
Of gaudy banquet-room!
Give me the great green halls,
With wild-flow'rs all in bloom,
Where tow'rs the oak sublime;
Where, in the forest shade,
Man talk'd with infant Time
Ere he had cities made.

Devotion's heart will rush
To God in any scene;
Hast heard that awful hush,
In temples arch'd with green,
Where Tempest-Spirit speaks,
Where ev'ry leaf's a tongue,
Where the pine's great bosom shrieks;
While million arms are swung?

There's joy in cultured vales,
In dewy dells of green;
Peace like a spirit sails
High in the blue serene;
A spirit haunts the hills,
A soul, the roaring sea;
But awe the bosom fills,
O great old woods, in thee.