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the test. (Musa loquitur.) - 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).

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the test.
(Musa loquitur.)

    • I hung my verses in the wind,
    • Time and tide their faults may find.
    • All were winnowed through and through,
    • Five lines lasted sound and true;
    • Five were smelted in a pot
    • Than the South more fierce and hot;
    • These the siroc could not melt,
    • Fire their fiercer flaming felt,
    • And the meaning was more white
    • Than July's meridian light.
    • Sunshine cannot bleach the snow,
    • Nor time unmake what poets know.
    • Have you eyes to find the five
    • Which five hundred did survive?