Betwixt Two Seas :: :: University of Virginia Library

These beasts that “understand” not, that exist,
Draw breath, enjoy warm sunshine and cool breeze—
That might be free to wander at their ease
And mate, feed, fight, and slumber as they list;
What was the joy in living that they miss'd
Ere man imposed his pitiless decrees
On all poor sentient creatures, and of these
Made slaves and subjects even ere they wist?

Nay, without hope of heav'n or fear of hell,
Knew they not all the fleeting joys we know,
These poor “brute beasts,” that mourn'd no overthrow

Of Hope or Love, nor felt Ambition swell
To die in dreams, or Faith, fantastic, glow,
And raised no gods of clay that broke or fell?

II

We that have made us lords, alike, of brute,
And fish, and fowl, and ev'ry creeping thing:—
That make their necks to bow, and set a ring
Within their nostrils, and by hot pursuit
And torture of them, prove our absolute
And proud dominion; doth such empire bring
Release from one dark hour of suffering,
Or sweeten for us Wisdom's bitter fruit?

Lo, we are not as beasts; we “understand”! . . .
Yet we, too, bow the neck beneath the rod
Wielded in silence by the chast'ning hand
Of One we, understanding not, call “God”;
Whilst blinder than the beasts in this our night,
We cannot even see the thongs that smite!

III

To be as fabled gods; to bless and curse,
Reward and punish, fitly make or mar;
Direct the course of ev'ry wandering star,
Command the storm to gather or disperse,
And, unperturbed, to rule the universe;—
Or else, to be as happy creatures are
That roam at large, unpenned by latch or bar,
And grieve for nothing evil or perverse;—

This had been well, but lo, betwixt the two,
Half god, half brute, man takes the middle path
With faltering footsteps and appealing hands;—
Ignorant, vain, yet strong to dare and do—
Oh Lord, be merciful, nor shed Thy wrath,
On one who so obscurely “understands”!