NATURE’S INFLUENCE
Reading edition
O, is there aught in this wide world more strange, Or aught more wonderful in spheres unknown, Than nature’s influence on human life? We go into the open field or wood, And she is there, and we are thrilled, and feel An ecstacy which words cannot define— A touch too delicate for human speech. The robin’s song comes floating on the air, And all his soul is in it—it is more To me than grandest opera, for by it Is ushered in the sweet arbutus bloom And tulips gay and yellow daffodils. I stray amid a field of daisy bloom— That all-pervading Presence seems most nigh, The atmosphere they breathe is full of cheer. Who that has wandered with them, has not felt His burdens lightened and his sorrows healed? I know not why, but common flowers declare Truth unto me when hot-house-cultured fail, And yet, however reared, no bud could ope But felt the Awakener’s touch of magic. This do they teach. The same warm rays of sun Fall on the nettle-plant, as fall upon The sweet briar-rose, and the rain-laden cloud Passes not by the meanest weed that grows. And do not wayside flowers invite alike The rich and humble? To possess is more Than ownership. Who takes from harvest-field Food for the inner life may richer be Than he who fills his granary to the brim. Jesus, who spake strong words for human needs But spake what every soul has felt and known— That life and body are of greater worth, Than food and raiment. Red’ning in the Spring Each maple tree reveals that wondrous care Which never slumbers. Throbbed our human hearts In harmony with Nature’s, should we feel It less, when dead leaves rustle ’neath our feet, And winds of Autumn sing funereal dirge? Why do men question of a future life? The tiniest grass blades, springing from the sod, Are bridges, whereupon with trusting feet I can in safety cross the stream of doubt— Wing of bird and cloud which floats above me, Pebble and sea shell which the tide brings in, Op’ning bud and tinted leaf of autumn, Ye all are messengers unto my soul. For ye are typical, and the revealers Of the All-Beautiful, whom I adore!