The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 4.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

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[132] Well might he heed the words he spake,
     And scan with care the written page
Through which he still shall warm and wake
     The hearts of men from age to age.

Ah! who shall blame him now because
     He solaced thus his hours of pain!
Should not the o'erworn thresher pause,
     And hold to light his golden grain?

No sense of humor dropped its oil
     On the hard ways his purpose went;
Small play of fancy lightened toil;
     He spake alone the thing he meant.

He loved his books, the Art that hints
     A beauty veiled behind its own,
The graver's line, the pencil's tints,
     The chisel's shape evoked from stone.

He cherished, void of selfish ends,
     The social courtesies that bless
And sweeten life, and loved his friends
     With most unworldly tenderness.

But still his tired eyes rarely learned
     The glad relief by Nature brought;
Her mountain ranges never turned
     His current of persistent thought.

The sea rolled chorus to his speech
     Three-banked like Latium's tall trireme,
With laboring oars; the grove and beach
     Were Forum and the Academe.