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Worship

By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Topics: classic

This is he, who, felled by foes,     Sprung harmless up, refreshed by blows:     He to captivity was sold,     But him no prison-bars would hold:     Though they sealed him in a rock,     Mountain chains he can unlock:     Thrown to lions for their meat,     The crouching lion kissed his feet;     Bound to the stake, no flames appalled,     But arched o'er him an honoring vault.     This is he men miscall Fate,     Threading dark ways, arriving late,     But ever coming in time to crown     The truth, and hurl wrong-doers down.     He is the oldest, and best known,     More near than aught thou call'st thy own,     Yet, greeted in another's eyes,     Disconcerts with glad surprise.     This is Jove, who, deaf to prayers,     Floods with blessings unawares.     Draw, if thou canst, the mystic line     Severing rightly his from thine,     Which is human, which divine.

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"This is he, who, felled by foes,..."

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Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson

"This is he, who, felled by foes,..." by Ralph Waldo Emerson

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

About Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) was an American essayist, philosopher, and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement. His poems—including "Brahma," "The Rhodora," and "Concord Hymn"—explore nature, self-reliance, and the oversoul.

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"One musician is sure,     His wisdom will not fail..."

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