Page 8 - January 2024

Give All to Love

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Give all to love; Leave all for love;

Obey thy heart; Yet, hear me, yet,
Friends, kindred, days, One word more thy heart behoved,
Estate, good-fame, One pulse more of firm endeavor,—

Plans, credit and the Muse,— Keep thee to-day,
Nothing refuse. To-morrow, forever,

Free as an Arab
’T is a brave master; Of thy beloved.
Let it have scope:

Follow it utterly, Cling with life to the maid;
Hope beyond hope: But when the surprise,

High and more high First vague shadow of surmise
It dives into noon, Flits across her bosom young,
With wing unspent, Of a joy apart from thee,

Untold intent: Free be she, fancy-free;
But it is a god, Nor thou detain her vesture’s hem,

Knows its own path Nor the palest rose she flung
And the outlets of the sky. From her summer diadem.

It was never for the mean; Though thou loved her as thyself,
It requireth courage stout. As a self of purer clay,

Souls above doubt, Though her parting dims the day,
Valor unbending, Stealing grace from all alive;
It will reward,— Heartily know,

They shall return When half-gods go,
More than they were, The gods arrive.

And ever ascending.

8 8 myindigosun.com