THE POET'S HOME
How gracious Nature is, and yet half-shy!
The more you search, the more there seems to be
Which longest looking fails to satisfy,
Something eluding you like mystery.
Sighting the friendly roof, an oak-set knoll
That rises midway, gives the place its name;
What comfort that this oak-like, sheltering soul,
With all the bounty of his faith and fame,
Should overshadow such a tragic soil,
And somehow seem to deepen their repose
Whom Superstition tangled in her toil,
And Zeal devoted as the Maker's foes!
The heart of witchcraft shook this very place,
Which has not yet its witchery outgrown!
Felt only now, thank God, in Nature's face
With Genius' liberal light athwart it thrown.
Oak Knoll, in Danvers was long the home of the poet John Greenleaf Whittier. It was demolished and residential areas built over the estate.