May-Day, and Other Pieces

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

ΑΔΑΚΡΥΝ ΝΕΜΟΝΤΑΙ ΑΙΩΝΑ.

‘A new commandment,’ said the smiling Muse,
‘I give my darling son, Thou shalt not preach;’—
Luther, Fox, Behmen, Swedenborg, grew pale,
And, on the instant, rosier clouds upbore
Hafiz and Shakspeare with their shining choirs.