Ever upon this stage，

    Is acted God's calm annual drama，

    Gorgeous procession， songs of birds，

    Sunrise that fullest feeds and freshens most the soul，

    The heaving sea， the waves upon the shore， the musical，

    strong waves，

    The woods， the stalwart trees， the slender， tapering¹ trees，

    The liliput countless² armies of the grass，

    The heat， the showers， the measureless pasturages，

    The scenery of the snows， the winds' free orchestra，

    The stretching light-hung roof of clouds， the clear cerulean

    and the silvery fringes，

    The high dilating³ stars， the placid⁴ beckoning⁵ stars，

    The moving flocks and herds⁶， the plains and emerald meadows，

    The shows of all the varied⁷ lands and all the growths and

    products.