Songs and Sonnets (Coleman)/Not by Nature's Door
NOT BY NATURE'S DOOR.
How often in some vexed or restless mood
Have I gone forth to nature, seeking there
Surcease from wounded pride or petty care,
And thought the flowing stream or shady wood
And large, impartial calms of solitude
Would be as arms unseen to lift me where
My soul should catch a loftier, purer air—
But O, how little have I understood!
For not by doors of nature or of sense,
However fair, however dear they be,
Has come that deep desirèd influence
That most reveals and proves myself to me;
There is a narrower pathway leading hence
For him who would from tyrant self be free.