George Willis Cooke, comp. The Poets of Transcendentalism: An Anthology. 1903.
AnathemataFranklin Benjamin Sanborn (18311917)
W
The generous heart accepts the passing year,
Finds duties dear, and labor sweet as rest,
And for itself knows neither care nor fear.
Fresh as the morning, earnest as the hour
That calls the noisy world to grateful sleep,
Our silent thought reveres the nameless power
That high seclusion round thy life doth keep:
So, feigned the poets, did Diana love
To smile upon her darlings while they slept;
Serene, untouched, and walking far above
The narrow ways wherein the many crept,
Along her lovely path of luminous air
She glided, of her brightness unaware.
Of shepherds gazing heavenward from the moor;
Or homeward sailors, when the waters dim
Flashed with long splendors, widening toward the shore;
Nor wondering eyes of children cared to see;
Or glowing face of happy lover, upturned,
As late he wended from the trysting-tree,
Lit by the kindly lamp in heaven that burned;
And heard unmoved the prayer of wakeful pain,
Or consecrated maiden’s holy vow,—
Believe them not: they sing the song in vain;
For so it never was, and is not now.
Her heart was gentle as her face was fair,
With grace and love and pity dwelling there.