Nature

NATURE. I heard a voice, as 'twere of one cast down By bitter agony,—and thus he spake: — "I do impeach thee, Nature! that thou hast In causeless malice made me woe-begone. Thou gavest mind to torture me;—the hopes, By thee first taught to bloom, bloom'd but to fade; The feelings that, like honey in the flower. Imparted to my heart its fragrance, turn To bitterness;—and, haply to keep pace With this vile sinking of my nobler part. My very energies of limb decay. And sadder—feebler than my fellow-men — I grope my way through life,—a friendless ghost. That sits on graves, or stalks among the tombs. Therefore, my voice is raised—I stand erect — And ere I die, I do impeach thee, Nature." He spoke, and there was silence. Then I heard The merry voices of ten thousand birds Who sang their morning paeans to the sun; And through the forest glades the deer awoke, And shook the dew drops from their antler'd brows; And glorious flowers upon the mountain side Drank in the day-light; and in silver streams Gold-mantled fish went darting everywhere; The mighty ocean murmur'd as a child Its mother lulls to rest; the skies look'd down In blue serenity, as if they smiled;— And to the dark impeachment of that man No other answer mighty Nature made. Henry G. Bell.