Poems of James Clarence Mangan (Many hitherto uncollected): Centenary edition: Edited, with preface and notes by D. J. O'Donoghue: Introduction by John Mitchel |
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| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
 | V. |
BREADTH AND DEPTH. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
 | Poems of James Clarence Mangan |  |
240
BREADTH AND DEPTH.
Gentry there be who don't figure in History;
Yet they are clever, too—deucedly!—
All that is puzzling, all tissues of mystery
They will unravel you lucidly.
Hear their oracular dicta but thrown out,
You'd fancy these Wise Men of Gotham must find the Philosophers' Stone out!
Yet they are clever, too—deucedly!—
All that is puzzling, all tissues of mystery
They will unravel you lucidly.
Hear their oracular dicta but thrown out,
You'd fancy these Wise Men of Gotham must find the Philosophers' Stone out!
Yet they quit Earth without signal and voicelessly;
All their existence was vanity.
He seldom speaks—he deports himself noiselessly
Who would enlighten Humanity:
Lone, unbeheld, he by slow, but incessant
Exertion, extracts for the Future the pith of the Past and the Present.
All their existence was vanity.
He seldom speaks—he deports himself noiselessly
Who would enlighten Humanity:
Lone, unbeheld, he by slow, but incessant
Exertion, extracts for the Future the pith of the Past and the Present.
Look at yon tree, spreading like a pavilion! See
How it shines, shadows and flourishes!
Not in its leaves, though all odour and brilliancy,
Seek we the sweet fruit that nourishes.
No! a dark prison encloses the kernel
Whence shoots with round bole and broad boughs the green giant whose youth looks eternal!
How it shines, shadows and flourishes!
Not in its leaves, though all odour and brilliancy,
Seek we the sweet fruit that nourishes.
No! a dark prison encloses the kernel
Whence shoots with round bole and broad boughs the green giant whose youth looks eternal!
| Poems of James Clarence Mangan | |