Earth Song by Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Mine and yours;

Mine, not yours.

Earth endures;

Stars abide –

Shine down in the old sea;

Old are the shores;

But where are old men?

I who have seen much,

Such have I never seen.

“The lawyer’s deed

Ran sure,

In tail,

To them and to their heirs

Who shall succeed,

Without fail,

Forevermore.

    “Here is the land,

    Shaggy with wood,

    With its old valley,

    Mound and flood.

    But the heritors? –

    Fled like the flood’s foam.

The lawyer and the laws,

And the kingdom,

Clean swept herefrom.

“They called me theirs,

Who so controlled me,

Yet every one

Wished to stay, and is gone,

How am I theirs,

If they cannot hold me,

But I hold them?”

When I heard the Earth-song

I was no longer brave;

My avarice cooled

Like lust in the chill of the grave.

Some thoughts…

On the Poet: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was a pre-eminent writer and philosopher associated with the Transcendentalist Movement which placed emphasis on independence of thought, self-reliance, and the essential goodness of Man and Nature. His concept of Nature was mystical rather than naturalistic – “…the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul.”

On this Poem:

‘Earth Song’ is an excerpt from a longer poem.

The lawyer’s deed

Ran sure,

In tail,

To them and to their heirs

Who shall succeed,

Without fail,

Forevermore.

I like the mocking use of legalese, and the pun of ‘in tail’ (read ‘entail’).

On a personal note: So many others have said it just as well, both before and after Emerson, but the truth of the message isn't diluted with rephrasing. One of my favorites is the Native American saying, “We do not inherit the earth, we merely borrow it from our children”.

Happy Earth Day!