Leap down in service to the plains, Or feed the fountains at their source; And only thus the mountain gains The vital fulness of the force That fills the meadow's myriad veins. In fair, reciprocal exchange Of good which each appropriates, The meadow and the mountain-range Nourish their beautiful estates; And lofty wild and lowly grange Thrive on the commerce thus ordained; And not a reek ascends the rock, And not a drift of dew is rained, But eyrie-brood and tended flock By the sweet gift is entertained. A meadow may be fair and broad, And hold a river in its rest; Or small, arid with the silver gaud Of a lone lakelet on its breast, Or but a patch, that, overawed, Clings humbly to the mountain's hem: It matters not: it is the charm That cheers his life, and holds the stem Of every flower that tempts his arm, Or greets his snowy diadem. Dolts talk of largest and of least, And worse than dolts are they who prate Of Beauty captive to the Beast; For man in woman finds his mate, And thrones her equal at his feast. She matches meekness with his might, And patience with his power to act,-- His judgment with her quicker sight; And wins by subtlety and tact The battles he can only fight. And she who strives to take the van In conflict, or the common way, Does outrage to the heavenly plan, And outrage to the finer clay That makes her beautiful to man. All this, and more than this, she saw Who reigned in Philip's house and heart. Far off, he seemed without a flaw; Close by, her tasteless counterpart, And slave to Nature's common law. To climb with fierce, familiar stride His dizzy paths of life and thought, Would but degrade him from her pride, And bring the majesty to naught Which love and distance magnified. If she should grow like him, she knew He would admire and love her less; The eagle's image might be true, But eagle of the wilderness Would find no consort in the view. A woman, in her woman's sphere, A loyal wife and worshipper, She only thirsted to appear As fair to him as he to her, And fairer still, from year to year. And he who quickly learned to purge His fancy of the tender whim That she was floating at the verge Of womanhood, half hid to him, Saw her with gracious mien emerge, And stand full-robed upon the shore, With faculties and charms unguessed; With wondrous eyes that looked before, And hands that helped and words that blessed-- The mistress of an alien lore Beyond the wisdom of the schools And all his manly power to win; With handicraft of tricks and tools That conjured marvels with a pin, And miracles with skeins and spools! She seemed to mock his dusty dearth With flowers that sprang beneath his eyes; Till all he was, seemed little worth, And she he deemed so little wise, Became the wisest of the earth.