If I come to no inn, then my slumber I'll snatch
'Neath the kindly blue sky, with the stars to keep watch.
The trees with their rustling will lull me to sleep;
Dawn's kisses will wake me, and up I shall leap.
Then ho! for the road, and the life that I love,
And God's pure air to cool your hot brow as you rove.
The heart sings for joy in the sun's merry beams—
All, wherefore so lovely, wide world of my dreams?
* * * * *
AUTUMN DAYS[52] (1845)
Sunny days of the autumn,
Days that shall make me whole,
When a balm for wounds that were bleeding
Drops silently on the soul!
Now seem the hours to be brooding
In still, beneficent rest,
And with a quieter motion
Heaves now the laboring breast.
To rest from the world's endeavor,
To build on the soul's deep base—
That is my only craving,
In the stillness of love to gaze.
O'er the hills, through the dales I wander,
Where the shy sweet streamlets call,
Following each clear sunbeam,
Whether scorching or kind it fall.
There where the leaves are turning,
I harken with reverent ear;
All that is growing or dying,
Fading or blooming, I hear.
Blissful I learn my lesson—
How through the world's wide sweep
Matter and spirit together
Their concord eternal keep.