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to j. w. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, vol. 9 (Poems) [1909]

Edition used:

The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, in 12 vols. Fireside Edition (Boston and New York, 1909).

Part of: The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, in 12 vols. (Fireside Edition).

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


to j. w.

    • Set not thy foot on graves;
    • Hear what wine and roses say;
    • The mountain chase, the summer waves,
    • The crowded town, thy feet may well delay.
    • Set not thy foot on graves;
    • Nor seek to unwind the shroud
    • Which charitable Time
    • And Nature have allowed
    • To wrap the errors of a sage sublime.
    • Set not thy foot on graves;
    • Care not to strip' the dead
    • Of his sad ornament,
    • His myrrh, and wine, and rings,
    • His sheet of lead,
    • And trophies buried;
    • Go, get them where he earned them when alive;
    • As resolutely dig or dive.
    • Life is too short to waste
    • In critic peep or cynic bark,
    • Quarrel or reprimand:
    • 'T will soon be dark;
    • Up! mind thine own aim, and
    • God speed the mark!