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Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood
- STRANGER, if thou hast learned a truth which needs
- No school of long experience, that the world
- Is full of guilt and misery, and hast seen
- Enough of all its sorrows, crimes, and cares,
- To tire thee of it, enter this wild wood
- And view the haunts of nature. The calm shade
- Shall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breeze
- That makes the green leaves dance, shall waft a balm
- To thy sick heart. Thou wilt find nothing here
- Of all that pained thee in the haunts of men,
- And made thee loathe thy life. The primal curse
- Fell, it is true, upon the unsinning earth,
- But not in vengance. God hath yoked to guilt
- Her pale tormentor, Misery. Hence these shades
- Are still the abode of gladness; the thick roof
- Of green and stirring branches is alive
- And musical with birds, that sing and sport
- In wantonness of spirit; while below
- The squirrel, with raised paws and form erect,
- Chirps merrily. Throngs of insects in the shade
- Try their thin wings and dance in the warm beam.
- That waked them into life. Even the green trees
- Partake the deep contentment; as they bend
- To the soft winds, the sun from the blue sky
- Looks in and sheds a blessing on the scene.
- Scarce less the cleft-born wildflower seems to enjoy
- Existence, than the winged plunderer
- That sucks its sweets. The mossy rocks themselves,
- And the old and ponderous trunks of prostrate trees
- That lead from knoll to knoll a causeway rude,
- Or bridge the sunken brook, and their dark roots,
- With all their roots upon them, twisting high,
- Breathe fixed tranquility. The rivulet
- Sends forth glad sounds, and tripping o'er its bed
- Of pebbly sands, or leaping down the rocks
- Seems, with continuous laughter, to rejoice
- In its own being. Softly tread the marge,
- Lest from her midway perch thou scare the wren
- That dips her bill in water. The cool wind,
- That stirs the stream in play, shall come to thee,
- Like one that loves thee nor will let thee pass
- Ungreeted, and shall give its light embrace.
- William Cullen Bryant