Silver Eels,
Wooden Creels,
These The Baits That Still Allure,
And Dragon-Fly
That Floated By,
May They Still Endure?
The shadows chased one another swiftly over wood and meadow, and
their alternation harmonized with our mood.
We could distinguish
the clouds which cast each one, though never so high in the
heavens. When a shadow flits across the landscape of the soul,
where is the substance? Probably, if we were wise enough, we
should see to what virtue we are indebted for any happier moment
we enjoy. No doubt we have earned it at some time; for the gifts
of Heaven are never quite gratuitous. The constant abrasion and
decay of our lives makes the soil of our future growth. The wood
which we now mature, when it becomes virgin mould, determines the
character of our second growth, whether that be oaks or pines.
Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly
mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he
will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve.
Did you never see it? - But, referred to the sun, it is widest at
its base, which is no greater than his own opacity. The divine
light is diffused almost entirely around us, and by means of the
refraction of light, or else by a certain self-luminousness, or,
as some will have it, transparency, if we preserve ourselves
untarnished, we are able to enlighten our shaded side. At any
rate, our darkest grief has that bronze color of the moon
eclipsed. There is no ill which may not be dissipated, like the
dark, if you let in a stronger light upon it. Shadows, referred
to the source of light, are pyramids whose bases are never
greater than those of the substances which cast them, but light
is a spherical congeries of pyramids, whose very apexes are the
sun itself, and hence the system shines with uninterrupted light.
But if the light we use is but a paltry and narrow taper, most
objects will cast a shadow wider than themselves.
The places where we had stopped or spent the night in our way up
the river, had already acquired a slight historical interest for
us; for many upward day's voyaging were unravelled in this rapid
downward passage. When one landed to stretch his limbs by
walking, he soon found himself falling behind his companion, and
was obliged to take advantage of the curves, and ford the brooks
and ravines in haste, to recover his ground. Already the banks
and the distant meadows wore a sober and deepened tinge, for the
September air had shorn them of their summer's pride.
"And what's a life? The flourishing array
Of the proud summer meadow, which to-day
Wears her green plush, and is to-morrow hay."
The air was really the "fine element" which the poets describe.
It had a finer and sharper grain, seen against the russet
pastures and meadows, than before, as if cleansed of the summer's
impurities.
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