For a while, when young, we frequented a teacher,
For a while we were contented with our proficiency;
Behold the end of the discourse:—what happened to us?
We came like water and we went like wind.
Ref.: O. 121, L. 544, B. 538, B. ii. 420, P. v. 99.—W 353, V. 584.
Being (once) a falcon, I flew from the World of mystery,
That from below I might soar to the heights above;
But, not finding there any intimate friend,
I came out by the same door wherein I went.[45]
Ref.: C. 281, L. 429, B. 425, S.P. 224, P. 30, B. ii. 295, T. 184.—W. 264, N. 225, V. 467.
A quatrain that probably contributed to FitzGerald's verse is:
No one has solved the tangled secrets of eternity,
No one has set foot beyond the orbit (of human under-standing),
Since, so far as I can see, from tyro to teacher,
Impotent are the hands of all men born of women.
Ref.: O. 72, C. 176, L. 357, B. 353, S.P. 175, B. ii. 211, P. v. 210—W. 190, N. 175, V. 356.
Into this Universe, and Why not knowing
Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing;
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not Whither, Willy-nilly blowing.