 | The high-top sweeting And Other Poems |  |
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THE STONE-CUTTER.
There dwelt in far Japan,
Long since, a laboring man
Who earned, by hammering stone, his daily food;
But discontent and dole
Lay heavy on his soul,
Which craved but riches as the only good.
Long since, a laboring man
Who earned, by hammering stone, his daily food;
But discontent and dole
Lay heavy on his soul,
Which craved but riches as the only good.
And so the gods on high,
Who sometimes bitterly
Punish a man by granting all his prayers,
Gave him a mine of gold,
And lands to have and hold,
And by and by breed feuds among his heirs.
Who sometimes bitterly
Punish a man by granting all his prayers,
Gave him a mine of gold,
And lands to have and hold,
And by and by breed feuds among his heirs.
But soon he, murmuring,
Desired to be a king;
To reign and rule,—ah, that were perfect bliss!
He wearied earth and air
By his incessant prayer,
Until the gods indulged him, even in this.
Desired to be a king;
To reign and rule,—ah, that were perfect bliss!
He wearied earth and air
By his incessant prayer,
Until the gods indulged him, even in this.
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His courtiers fawned and lied;
And rival powers outside
His realm assailed his peace with fierce debate;
And heaviness and care
Bleached gray his thinning hair,
And made him weary of his royal state.
And rival powers outside
His realm assailed his peace with fierce debate;
And heaviness and care
Bleached gray his thinning hair,
And made him weary of his royal state.
“Oh, change me to a rock,”
He cried, “that no rude shock
Can stir, nor any storm disturb or shake!”
And lo! he stood ere long
A massive boulder strong,
Which torrents could not move, nor tempests break.
He cried, “that no rude shock
Can stir, nor any storm disturb or shake!”
And lo! he stood ere long
A massive boulder strong,
Which torrents could not move, nor tempests break.
In vain the burning heat
Of fiercest sunshine beat
Upon his head; in vain the storm-wind smote
His rugged sides; in vain
Great rivers, swol'n by rain,
Came roaring from their mountain caves remote.
Of fiercest sunshine beat
Upon his head; in vain the storm-wind smote
His rugged sides; in vain
Great rivers, swol'n by rain,
Came roaring from their mountain caves remote.
They moved him not; and he
Rejoiced exceedingly,
And said, “No more for me, O sweet release,
Will there be strife and woe,
And wavering to and fro,
Since I am fixed in an eternal peace!”
Rejoiced exceedingly,
And said, “No more for me, O sweet release,
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And wavering to and fro,
Since I am fixed in an eternal peace!”
But on a summer day
A workman brought that way
A chisel and a hammer,—these alone;
He measured here and there,
And then, with patient care,
Began to cut away the stubborn stone.
A workman brought that way
A chisel and a hammer,—these alone;
He measured here and there,
And then, with patient care,
Began to cut away the stubborn stone.
“Ah!” said the boulder-king,
“What is this wondrous thing?
This plodding workman smites and conquers me!
He cuts, as suits him best,
Huge blocks from out my breast;
He is more strong than I! would I were he!”
“What is this wondrous thing?
This plodding workman smites and conquers me!
He cuts, as suits him best,
Huge blocks from out my breast;
He is more strong than I! would I were he!”
And lo! the powers aloft
Who had so long and oft
Marked his successive follies, soon outgrown,
Again his pleading heard;
He, taken at his word,
Became once more a hammerer of stone!
Who had so long and oft
Marked his successive follies, soon outgrown,
Again his pleading heard;
He, taken at his word,
Became once more a hammerer of stone!
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So, wiser than before,
Desiring nothing more,
Again about his olden toil he went;
Until his ripe old age
He toiled for scanty wage,
And never spake a word of discontent.
Desiring nothing more,
Again about his olden toil he went;
Until his ripe old age
He toiled for scanty wage,
And never spake a word of discontent.
| The high-top sweeting And Other Poems | |