在黑夜的深处，在白天的高峰，你知道我在哪里休息或漫游吗?你的寻找是徒劳的，因为我无处停留，宇宙是我的家。当我爬上悬崖，逃离我所造成的灾难时，你想在陡峭的山崖上看到我的裙子，我在大海摇动的摇篮里睡得很熟。“从来没有人见过我的舵，虽然我在大海的海面上航行;从来没有人踏过我的领地，也没有人能领我到我的居所。“那你要怎样挑战我和我的意志?或者，我要怎样申辩?”你可以恸哭，但只有我是自由的，你既不能囚禁我，也不能锁住我。你的地牢在血红色的手上叮当作响，束缚着怪物的爪子。如果我在波浪下融合，如果我在陆地上平了，那我的意志就是法律。“你已经清除了海盗船的主要龙骨，清除了亡命之徒的足迹; Your hounds follow swift on the felon's heel, And the trail of the ravisher fled. ``But when I harry the woods, or scour The furrows of foam for prey, The blushing bloom of the Spring deflower, Or outrage the buds of May, ``Where, where are they that can hunt me down, Or catch up my tacking sail, Can bridle my lust with scourge or frown, As I speed me away on the gale? ``I heed no menace, I hark no prayer And, if I desire, I sate: 'Tis but when I want not that I spare, But neither from love nor hate. ``Let the feeble falter in their intent, Or, slaking it, feel remorse. Though I never refrain, I never repent I am nothing but Will and Force. ``The flocks of the wandering waves I hold In the hollow of my hand, And I let them loose, like a huddled fold, And with them I flood the land; ``Till they swirl round villages, hamlets, thorpes, As the cottagers flee for life: Then I fling the fisherman's flaccid corpse At the feet of the fisherman's wife. ``I blow from the shore as the surges swell, And the drenched barque strains for port, But heareth in vain the lighthouse bell And the guns of the hailing fort. ``Where speedeth the horseman o'er sand or veldt That boasteth a seat like mine? I ride without stirrup, or bit, or belt, On the back of the bounding brine. ``And it rears and plunges, it chafes and foams, But I am its master still, And its mettle I tame till it halts or roams At whatever pace I will. ``I shatter the stubborn oak, and blanch The leaves of the poplar tree, And sweep all the chords of bough and branch, Till I make them sound like the sea. ``O, where is there music like to mine, When I muster my breath and roll Through the organ pipes of the mountain pine, Till they fill and affright the soul? ``Then smoothly and softly, 'twixt shore and shore, I float on the dreaming mere; And motionless then you suspend your oar, And listen, but cannot hear. ``For I have crept to the water's edge, And deep under reed-mace crest Am faintly fanning the seeded sedge, Or rocking the cygnet's nest. ``If I strip the maidenly birches bare Of their dainty transparent dress, It is that their limbs may look more fair In their innocent nakedness. ``I weave from the leaves of the beech-capped steep A coverlet gold and red, And under its quiet warmth I creep, And sleep till the snows are fled. ``Then I wake, and around the maiden's feet I flutter each fringe and fold, And playfully ripple the vestal pleat That hints of her perfect mould. ``I linger round dimpled throat and mouth, Till her warm lips fall apart, And with the breath of the scented south Keep thawing her chaste cold heart. ``Then she harks to the note of the nightingale And the coo of the mated dove, And murmurs the words of the poet's tale, Till the whole of her life is Love. ``I unlimber the thunder, I aim the bolt, Till the forest ranks waver and quail, Then hurl down the hill and over the holt My squadrons of glittering hail. ``I soar where no skylark mounts and sings, But the heavenly anthems swell, And fan with the force of my demon wings The furnace of nethermost Hell. ``Like the Soul of Man, like God's Word and Will, Whence I come and whither I go, And where I abide when my voice is still, You know not, and never shall know.''