 | The book of the dead |  |
26
[X. If passion less, and reason more]
If passion less, and reason more,
My wayward nature checked and led,
If some great change of empire bore
The seat of rule from heart to head;
My wayward nature checked and led,
If some great change of empire bore
The seat of rule from heart to head;
If, with the dullards, I inclined
To count my gold, and drop to clay,
And leave the fingered stuff behind,
To witness me to such as they;
To count my gold, and drop to clay,
And leave the fingered stuff behind,
To witness me to such as they;
If I could trim my muse's wing,
Control her flight, abate her rage,
And teach her, a well-ordered thing,
To coo and warble in a cage;
Control her flight, abate her rage,
And teach her, a well-ordered thing,
To coo and warble in a cage;
If I could school my face to show
A visored hate, a vapid love,
And range my feelings in a row,
For any fool at will to move;
A visored hate, a vapid love,
And range my feelings in a row,
For any fool at will to move;
27
If I could lie and feign, to draw
My simple neighbor in a trap,
Just on the outskirts of the law,
Securely sheltered from mishap;
My simple neighbor in a trap,
Just on the outskirts of the law,
Securely sheltered from mishap;
If that, to which all hearts are sold,
Could be the god on which I call,—
That greasy harlot, common gold,
The temptress of man's second fall;
Could be the god on which I call,—
That greasy harlot, common gold,
The temptress of man's second fall;
If in my soul the Lord were dead,
And conscience dumb and pitiless,
And Aaron's golden calf instead
Stared o'er the moral wilderness;
And conscience dumb and pitiless,
And Aaron's golden calf instead
Stared o'er the moral wilderness;
Why, then, this servile world would praise
The very ground on which I stood,
And the base scoundrels of these lays
Would hail me of their brotherhood.
The very ground on which I stood,
And the base scoundrels of these lays
Would hail me of their brotherhood.
| The book of the dead | |