| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 120. Thoreau |
| | | By Amos Bronson Alcott |
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| WHO nearer Nature’s life would truly come | |
| Must nearest come to him of whom I speak; | |
| He all kinds knew,—the vocal and the dumb; | |
| Masterful in genius was he, and unique, | |
| Patient, sagacious, tender, frolicsome. | 5 |
| This Concord Pan would oft his whistle take, | |
| And forth from wood and fen, field, hill, and lake, | |
| Trooping around him in their several guise, | |
| The shy inhabitants their haunts forsake: | |
| Then he, like Æsop, man would satirize, | 10 |
| Hold up the image wild to clearest view | |
| Of undiscerning manhood’s puzzled eyes, | |
| And mocking say, “Lo! mirrors here for you: | |
| Be true as these, if ye would be more wise.” | |
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