Onward we moved, and reach’d the Ride deg. deg.107
Where gaily flows the human tide. 
Afar, in rest the cattle lay;
We heard, afar, faint music play; 110
But agitated, brisk, and near,
Men, with their stream of life, were here. 
Some hang upon the rails, and some
On foot behind them go and come. 
This through the Ride upon his steed 115
Goes slowly by, and this at speed. 
The young, the happy, and the fair,
The old, the sad, the worn, were there;
Some vacant, deg. and some musing went,
And some in talk and merriment. 120
Nods, smiles, and greetings, and farewells! 
And now and then, perhaps, there swells
A sigh, a tear—­but in the throng
All changes fast, and hies deg. along. deg.124
Hies, ah, from whence, what native ground? 125
And to what goal, what ending, bound? 
“Behold, at last the poet’s sphere! 
But who,” I said, “suffices here?

“For, ah! so much he has to do;
Be painter and musician too deg.! deg.130
The aspect of the moment show,
The feeling of the moment know! 
The aspect not, I grant, express
Clear as the painter’s art can dress;
The feeling not, I grant, explore 135
So deep as the musician’s lore—­
But clear as words can make revealing,
And deep as words can follow feeling. 
But, ah! then comes his sorest spell
Of toil—­he must life’s movement deg. tell! deg.140
The thread which binds it all in one,
And not its separate parts alone. 
The movement he must tell of life,
Its pain and pleasure, rest and strife;
His eye must travel down, at full, 145
The long, unpausing spectacle;
With faithful unrelaxing force
Attend it from its primal source,
From change to change and year to year
Attend it of its mid career, 150
Attend it to the last repose
And solemn silence of its close.

“The cattle rising from the grass
His thought must follow where they pass;
The penitent with anguish bow’d 155
His thought must follow through the crowd. 
Yes! all this eddying, motley throng
That sparkles in the sun along,
Girl, statesman, merchant, soldier bold,
Master and servant, young and old, 160
Grave, gay, child, parent, husband, wife,
He follows home, and lives their life.