In the Sierra 



while the whole body seems to feel beauty 

 when exposed to it as it feels the camp-fire or 

 sunshine, entering not by the eyes alone, but 

 equally through all one's flesh like radiant 

 heat, making a passionate ecstatic pleasure- 

 glow not explainable. One's body then seems 

 homogeneous throughout, sound as a crystal. 



Perched like a fly on this Yosemitedome, 

 I gaze and sketch and bask, oftentimes set- 

 tling down into dumb admiration without 

 definite hope of ever learning much, yet 

 with the longing, unresting effort that lies at 

 the door of hope, humbly prostrate before 

 the vast display of God's power, and eager 

 to offer self-denial and renunciation with 

 eternal toil to learn any lesson in the divine 

 manuscript. 



It is easier to feel than to realize, or in 

 any way explain Yosemite grandeur. The 

 magnitudes of the rocks and trees and streams 

 are so delicately harmonized they are mostly 

 hidden. Sheer precipices three thousand feet 

 high are fringed with tall trees growing close 



