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The Waterfall

by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1904

A PATCH of meadow upland
  Reached by a mile of road,
Soothed by the voice of waters,
  With birds and flowers bestowed.

Hither I come for strength
  Which well it can supply,
For Love draws might from terrene force
  And potencies of sky.

The tremulous battery Earth
  Responds to the touch of man;
It thrills to the antipodes,
  From Boston to Japan.

The planets’ child the planet knows
  And to his joy replies;
To the lark’s trill unfolds the rose,
  Clouds flush their gayest dyes.

When Ali prayed and loved
  Where Syrian waters roll,
Upward the ninth heaven thrilled and moved
  At the tread of the jubilant soul.

Published in The Poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson
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