Death & Dying

Manners

by Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803–1882

Death & Dying

Grace, Beauty and Caprice
Build this golden portal;
Graceful women, chosen men,
Dazzle every mortal.
Their sweet and lofty countenance
His enchanted food;
He need not go to them, their forms
Beset his solitude.
He looketh seldom in their face,
His eyes explore the ground,--
The green grass is a looking-glass
Whereon their traits are found.
Little and less he says to them,
So dances his heart in his breast;
Their tranquil mien bereaveth him
Of wit, of words, of rest.
Too weak to win, too fond to shun
The tyrants of his doom,
The much deceived Endymion
Slips behind a tomb.

MLA

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Manners.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/emerson/102/.

Chicago

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Manners.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/emerson/102/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Ralph Waldo Emerson