James Russell Lowell

“ To smooth, dark pool, to crinkling bend,—
(O, stew him, Ann, as 't were your friend,
With amorous solicitude!)
5.
I see him step with caution due,
Soft as if shod with moccasins,
Grave as in church,—and who plies you,
Sweet craft, is safe as in a pew
From all our common stock o' sins.
6.
The unerring fly I see him cast,
That as a rose-leaf falls as soft,—
A flash! a whirl! he has him fast! ”

“ Happier to chase a flying goal,
Than to sit counting laurelled gains,
To guess the Soul within the soul,
Than to be lord of what remains.
This work was published before January 1, 1928, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago. ”