Behold these flowers

by Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Behold these flowers —
let us be up with Time
not dreaming of 3000 years
ago. Erect ourselves and let
those columns lie — not stoop
to raise a foil against the
sky — Where is the spirit
of that time but in this
present day this present line
3000 years ago are not
agone — they are still lingering
here aye every one, Where
there is memory which com-
pelleth time the nurse's mother
and the muses nine — There are
all ages — past and future
time unwearied memory that
does not forget the actions
of the past — that does
not forego — to stamp them
freshly — . That old mortality
industrious to retouch the mon-
uments of time, in the world's
cemetery through-out every clime/
And Memnon's mother sprightly greets us now
Wears still her youthful blushes on her brow
And Carnac's columns why stand they on the plain?
T'enjoy our opportunities they would fain remain

This is my Carnac whose unmeasured dome
Shelters the measuring art & measurer's home
Whose propylaeum is the system nigh
And sculptured facade the visible sky





Last updated September 05, 2017