FEINBERG/WHITMAN  LITERARY FILE   POETRY FILE "I'll Trace This Garden." A. MS. draft.
Box 27 Folder 23

Includes copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem,
"Brahma."


Attorney General's Office,
Washington.    18
1
I'll trace this garden oer & oer
Meditate on each sweet flower
Thinking of each happy hour 

2
Some say my love is gone to 
France

3
I'll sell my frock – I'll sell my where

4
I wish I was on yonder hill
It's there I'd sit & cry my fill
So every tear should turn a mill
5

5
I'll dye my dress – I'll dye it red
Over the world I'll beg my bread
My parents dear shall think me dead


If the red slayer think he slays,
And if the slain think he is slain, 
They know not well the subtle way
I keep, & pass, & come again.

Far [&] or forgot to me is near,
Shadow & sunlight are the same,
The vanished gods to me appear,
And one to me are shame & fame.

They reckon ill who leave me out
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter & the doubt,
And I the hymn the brahmin sings.

The strong gods pine for my abode,
And pine [for me] in vain the sacred Seven; 
But thou, meek lover of the good,
Find me, & turn thy back on heaven

Attorney General's Office, 
Washington.        18

[*584*]

187     I'll trace this garden: notes for a poem.  A.MS.  (1p. 20 1/2
x 12 1/2 cms.)


Written in ink on lined letterhead (Attorney General's Office, 
Washington, 18  , 82 words:
                                          1
I'll trace this garden oer & oer
Meditate on each sweet flower
Thinking of each happy hour
                                          2
Some say my love is gone to France
                                          3
I'll sell my frock--I'll sell my where
                                          4
I wish I was on yonder hill
It's there I'd sit and cry my fill
So every tear should turn a mill
  S
[*[over]*]

585

5
I'll dye my dress--I'll dye it red
Over the world I'll beg my bread
My parents dear shall think me dead

Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.