We almost see the nod of sternbrowed Jove,
And feel Olympus shake; we almost hear
The melodies that Greek youths interwove
In pæan to Apollo, and the clear,
Full voice of Nestor, sounding far and near.
A dignity of sadness filled his heart,
That sadness, born of immortality,
Which they alone who live in art
Feel in its sweetness and its mystery,
Half-filled already with infinity.
Yea, Zeus was wise when he decreed him blind,
And wiser still when he decreed him poor;
For insight grew as outer sight declined,
And want overrode the ills it could not cure,
Else rhapsody had lacked its lay most pure.
OUR UNDERLYING EXISTENCE.
O Fool, that wisdom dost despise,
Thou knowest not, thou canst not guess
Another part of thee is wise
And silent sees thy foolishness.
Yet, fool, how dare I pity thee
Because my heart reveres the sages;
The fool lies also deep in me;
We all are one beneath the ages.
TO ______.
"Creation—God's kind giving—
Continues: did not at one Adam end.
New realms start open to each generation,
Each man receives some gift, some revelation:
I, in this late age living,
The gift, the new-creation of a friend.
TO A DEBUTANTE.
Thou who smilest in thy freshness,
Bright as bud in morning dew;
Keep this thought in thy heart's bower
"Ever turn, like sunward flower,
To the Good, the Fair, the True."