I.
Around, both far and wide, on every hand
The prairie all environs me; I see
Nought save a stretch of green and treeless land,
Conspicuous alone for nudity:
A sea of earth, a boundless stretch unspanned
Except by Heaven's broad horizon-band.
II.
The very vastness of its sameness lends
A fascination which it else had not;
And here my sense of solitude transcends
What I have felt on any other spot:
Of solitude, yet not of loneliness,
For God seems present, and His distance less.
The sea alone of Nature's works can vie
With this in solitude. None else can be
Compared to it. Here 'neath his Maker's eye
The creature seems to stand more openly
Than elsewhere. Here his very solitude
Makes man appear by God more nearly viewed.
IV.
Yet is not here God's awfulness displayed;
His kindliness and mercy more appear;
For flow'rs, the precious emblems He has made
Of graciousness, in plenitude are here.
In rich profusion blooming unconfined,
They seem to whisper softly: "God is kind."
V.