The Early Poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1900 Original Publisher: A.L. Burt Company, publishers Subjects: History / General Literary Criticism / American / General Literary Criticism / Poetry Poetry / General Poetry / American / General Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no... more » illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: ALPHONSO OF CASTILE. I Alpjionso live and learn, Seeing nature go astern. Things deteriorate in kind, Lemons run to leaves and rind, Meagre crop of figs and limes, Shorter days and harder times. Flowering April cools and dies In the insufficient skies; Imps at high Midsummer blot Half the sun's disk with a spot; 'Twill not now avail to tan Orange cheek, or skin of man : Roses bleach, the goats are dry, Lisbon quakes, the people cry. Yon pale scrawny fisher fools, Gaunt as bitterns in the pools, Are no brothers of my blood, -- They discredit Adamhood. Eyes of gods ! ye must have seen, O'er your ramparts as ye lean, The general debility, Of genius the sterility, Mighty projects countermanded, Rash ambition broken-handed, Puny man and scentless rose Tormenting Pan to double the dose. Rebuild or ruin: either fill Of vital force the wasted rill, Or, tumble all again in heap To weltering chaos, and to sleep. Say, Seigneurs, are the old Niles dry, Which fed the veins of earth and sky, That mortals miss the loyal heats Which drove them erst to social feats, Now to a savage selfness grown, Think nature barely serves for one; With science poorly mask their hurt, And vex the gods with question pert, Immensely curious whether you Still are rulers, or Mildew. Masters, I'm in pain with you; Masters, I'll be plain with you. In my palace of Cast...« less