Contrast

The world has many seas,

Mediterranean,

Atlantic, but        here is the shore of the one ocean.

And here the heavy future hangs like a cloud; the        enormous scene; the enormous games

Weigh on the water and strain the rock; the stage is        here, the play is conceived; the players are        not found.

I saw on the Sierras, up the Kaweah valley above the        Moro rock, the mountain

Like red towers on the slopes of snow; about their        bases grew a bushery of Christmas green,

Firs and pines to be monuments for

In Europe;

I remembered the Swiss forests, the dark        robes of Pilatus, no trunk like these there;

But these are underwood; they are only a shrubbery        about the boles of the trees.                     Our people are clever and masterful;

They have powers in the mass, they accomplish marvels.        It is possible Time will make them before it        annuls them, but at

There is not one memorable person, there is not one        mind to stand with the trees, one life with        the mountains.