The green leaves waving in the morning gale —
The little birds that 'mid their freshness sing —
The wild-wood flowers so tender-ey'd and pale —
The wood-mouse sitting by the forest spring —
The morning dew — the wild bees woodland hum,
All woo my feet to nature's forest home.
'Tis beautiful from some tall craggy peak
To watch the setting of the blessed sun —
To mark his light grow weaker, and more weak,
Till earth and sky be hid in twilight dun;
'Tis beautiful to watch the earliest ray,
That sparkling comes across the ocean gray.
But, oh! more beautiful — more passing sweet
It is, to wander in an hour like this —
Where twisted branches overhead do meet,
And gentle airs the bursting buds do kiss —
Where forest-paths, and glades, and thickets green,
Make up, of flowers and leaves, a world serene.
To the pure heart, 't is happiness to mark
The tree-tops waving in the warm sunshine —
To hear thy song, thou cloud-embosom'd lark,
Like that of some fair spirit all divine —
To lie upon the forest's velvet grass,
And watch the fearful deer in distance pass.
O! gloriously beautiful is earth! —
The desert wild, the mountain old and hoar,
The craggy steep, upthrown at nature's birth,
The sweeping ocean wave, the pebbled shore,
Have much of beauty all; but none to me
Is like the spot where stands the forest-tree.
There I can muse, away from living men,
Reclining peacefully on nature's breast, —
The woodbird sending up its God -ward strain,
Nursing the spirit into holy rest!
Alone with God , within his forest fane,
The soul can feel that all save H IM is vain.
Here it can learn — will learn — to love all things
That H E hath made — to pity and forgive
All faults, all failings: Here the heart's deep springs
Are opened up, and all on earth who live
To me grow nearer, dearer than before —
My brother loving I my God adore.
A deep mysterious sympathy doth bind
The human heart to nature's beauties all;
We know not, guess not, of its force or kind;
But that it is we know. When ill doth fall
Upon us — when our hearts are sear'd and riven —
We'll seek the forest land for peace and heaven.
The little birds that 'mid their freshness sing —
The wild-wood flowers so tender-ey'd and pale —
The wood-mouse sitting by the forest spring —
The morning dew — the wild bees woodland hum,
All woo my feet to nature's forest home.
'Tis beautiful from some tall craggy peak
To watch the setting of the blessed sun —
To mark his light grow weaker, and more weak,
Till earth and sky be hid in twilight dun;
'Tis beautiful to watch the earliest ray,
That sparkling comes across the ocean gray.
But, oh! more beautiful — more passing sweet
It is, to wander in an hour like this —
Where twisted branches overhead do meet,
And gentle airs the bursting buds do kiss —
Where forest-paths, and glades, and thickets green,
Make up, of flowers and leaves, a world serene.
To the pure heart, 't is happiness to mark
The tree-tops waving in the warm sunshine —
To hear thy song, thou cloud-embosom'd lark,
Like that of some fair spirit all divine —
To lie upon the forest's velvet grass,
And watch the fearful deer in distance pass.
O! gloriously beautiful is earth! —
The desert wild, the mountain old and hoar,
The craggy steep, upthrown at nature's birth,
The sweeping ocean wave, the pebbled shore,
Have much of beauty all; but none to me
Is like the spot where stands the forest-tree.
There I can muse, away from living men,
Reclining peacefully on nature's breast, —
The woodbird sending up its God -ward strain,
Nursing the spirit into holy rest!
Alone with God , within his forest fane,
The soul can feel that all save H IM is vain.
Here it can learn — will learn — to love all things
That H E hath made — to pity and forgive
All faults, all failings: Here the heart's deep springs
Are opened up, and all on earth who live
To me grow nearer, dearer than before —
My brother loving I my God adore.
A deep mysterious sympathy doth bind
The human heart to nature's beauties all;
We know not, guess not, of its force or kind;
But that it is we know. When ill doth fall
Upon us — when our hearts are sear'd and riven —
We'll seek the forest land for peace and heaven.