The Works of James Russell Lowell Author:James Russell Lowell Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: L'ENVOI TO THE MUSE Whither ? Albeit I follow fast, In all life's circuit I but find, Not where thou art, but where thou wast, Sweet beckoner, more ... more »fleet than wind I I haunt the pine-dark solitudes, With soft brown silence carpeted, And plot to snare thee in the woods : Peace I o'ertake, but thou art fled ! I find the rock where thou didst rest, The moss thy skimming foot hath prest; All Nature with thy parting thrills, Like branches after birds new-flown ; Thy passage hill and hollow fills With hints of virtue not their own; In dimples still the water slips Where thou hast dipt thy finger-tips; Just, just beyond, forever burn Gleams of a grace without return ; Upon thy shade I plant my foot, And through my frame strange raptures shoot; All of thee but thyself I grasp ; I seem to fold thy luring shape, And vague air to my bosom clasp, Thou lithe, perpetual Escape! One mask and then another drops, And thou art secret as before : Sometimes with flooded ear I list, And hear thee, wondrous organist, From mighty continental stops A thunder of new music pour; Through pipes of earth and air and stone Thy inspiration deep is blown ; Through mountains, forests, open downs, Lakes, railroads, prairies, states, and towns. Thy gathering fugue goes rolling on From Maine to utmost Oregon; The factory-wheels in cadence hum, From brawling parties concords come ; All this I hear, or seem to hear, But when, enchanted, I draw near To mate with words the various theme, Life seems a whiff of kitchen steam, History an organ-grinder's thrum, For thou hast slipt from it and me And all thine organ-pipes left dumb, Most mutable Perversity! Not weary yet, I still must seek, And hope for luck next day, next week; I go to see the great man ride...« less