Poems (McDonald)/Nature's Teachings

by Mary Noel McDonald

NATURE'S TEACHINGS.

i.

Go forth with Nature—she hath many voices,
 Speaking deep lessons to the human heart,
Where the blue streamlet in its course rejoices,
 And where amid the forest wild birds dart,
 Bearing in some sweet chorus each a part;
Wind, wave and blossom, tree and fragrant sod,
 The mossy hillock in its robe of green,
The tiny bells that in the breezes nod,
 Lifting their dewy heads, broad leaves between—
Each has a tone, a lesson; man hath need
 Oft to go forth and ponder all their lore:
In Nature's open volume he may read
 Truths of the mightiest import, and in awe
 Bow down an humble heart, an unseen power adore.

ii.

Go to the ocean, when its giant waves
 Are lashed to fury in the tempest's hour,
And while each tortured billow madly raves,
 Learn thou the Lord Jehovah's might and power;
 Then turn thee to the little modest flower,
That blooms unnoticed 'mid the gay and fair,
 Or gives its bright cheek to the summer shower,
And read His watchful love and goodness there.
The lilies of the field are still His care,
 And He who fixed the rolling worlds on high,
And spread above the broad blue arch of heaven,
And clothes it with the gorgeous hues of even,
 Looks on the meanest worm with guardian eye,
 And marks the sparrow's fall, and heeds the raven's cry.

iii.

Go trace the waters of the sparkling rill,
 From out their rocky birthplace wildly gushing,
Trickling in infant beauty from the hill,
 Or in the sun with diamond lustre flushing:
Now gliding onward for awhile serene,
Now, twisted roots and vexing rocks between,
Then dashing on, with fiercer, wilder force,
And swifter race along their destined course,
 To mingle with the ocean waves at last;
And such is Life—its Childhood's fount so fair,
 Its Youth's gay morn so joyous and so free,
Its Manhood's hour of fearful strife and care—
 Its Age of rapid flight so quickly past—
 'Till lost amid thy depths, Eternity.

iv.

Go in the spring-time—when the smiling earth
 Puts on her robes of beauty for thine eye,
And lo, she speaks of that celestial birth
 The Spirit knows in brighter worlds on high:
 And when the Autumn winds all mournful sigh
Through leafless branches, then go forth and store
Thy mind with thoughts of death, and read once more
 The lesson of thine own mortality.
Ay, wander forth with Nature, every glade,
Each leafy aisle amid the forest's shade
The lightning's flash—the thunder's awful roll—
 The rainbow's arch—the dazzling orb of day—
 The silent moon upon her pathless way—
All have mysterious tones to pierce the human soul.