LE BRET.
Suppose you set aside, a while, your soul
Heroic and success....
CYRANO.
What should I do?....
Set out to find a power, influence,
A master, then? A lowly ivy be
That licks the trunk it uses for support?
Creep up by stealth, instead of rising strong?
I thank you, no!—Inscribe the verse I write
To money bags, and play the low buffoon,
To cause, on lips that I despise, a smile?
I thank you, no! For breakfast eat a toad?
Wear out, or soil, especially my knees?
Forever prove how pliant is a spine?
I thank you, no! Give—only to exact?
Have ready praise for all, and strive to be
A pygmy hero in a puny ring?
I thank you, no! Ask publishers to print
My verse—at my expense? I thank you, no!
Seek favour from the solemn councils held
By pompous fools in taverns and the like?
I thank you, no! Or try to build a name
Upon a single sonnet, sooner than
Write other sonnets? No. I thank you, no!
Be terrorized by journals vague and small,
And hope the while they'll not forget me? No,
I thank you! Ever weigh, observe and fear?
Place gossip far above poetic lines?
Solicit, beg, crave notoriety?
I thank you, no! I thank you, nay!.... But, oh!....
To sing, to dream, to laugh, to be alone
And free, with eyes that naught will cause to turn,
And with a voice that naught will cause to shake!
To cock your hat, if you feel so disposed:
For this, or that, to fight—or write a verse!
To plan, without a thought of gold or fame,
A novel trip, perhaps unto the moon!
To write but what is honestly your own,
And, diffident for once, reflect: my boy,
Be satisfied with flower, fruit.... or leaf,
If they have grown on soil that's strictly yours!
Then, if perchance a bit of fame is earned,
To feel that none of it to Cæsar's due!
The truth is there, and so is honesty:
Despise to ape the ivy-parasite,
And try to be an oak, or elm, to rise,
Not very high, perhaps, but rise alone!
LE BRET.
Alone, you're right! But not opposing all!
Why should you make so many enemies?
CYRANO.
Because I see you make so many friends,
And smile on them with mouths I'll not describe.[19]
I'm glad to pass with fewer greetings met,
And proud to think: another enemy!
LE BRET.
You are insane!