Madmoments: or First Verseattempts By a Bornnatural. Addressed to the Lightheaded of Society at Large, by Henry Ellison |
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TRUE LIFEDEVELOPING. |
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 | Madmoments: or First Verseattempts |  |
TRUE LIFEDEVELOPING.
Friend, think not that a mighty ActionsphereIs needful to unfold the soul within thee!
If thou wert Alexander with the World
Before thee, or Napoleon, thou wert
Not more a Man, no, not one tittle; nay,
The rather dispossessed of thy true Self!
For then thou wert the creature of a Dream,
Holding a Shadowsceptre, ruling o'er
Vain forms, as fleeting e'en as those left by
Thy passing shape upon the ground, and more
Unreal than such as haunt the sleeper's brain.
For when thou stand'st before the Judgmentseat,
Wilt thou stalk on a mighty crowned Ghost,
And to the assembled Angels, shouting cry,
«Lo, I am Alexander», what thinkst thou
Of Alexander overpassed the Grave?
Himself my friend, the man, the simple man,
Unbuskin'd and unstilted from the Stage
Whereon he played his Drama, full of sound
And idle uproar; Oh! believe me, friend,
If thou wouldst be thyself, wouldst be a man,
Live thine own Life; live for thyself, yet still
In others; live thou like the violet,
With all thy dear ones, like a Knot of true
And faithful hearts, that in each other pour
Their fragrance, so that one is sweet as all;
So that the Life of one be that of all;
And as the violet has many flowers,
But growing from one root, and as the Dew
That falls on one refre shes all, the blow
Which wounds one woundeth all, so shall it be
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In outward things, 'tis in his inner self,
And that which he there gains is gained for ever!
And when He feels the Consciousness of Self,
Then is he himself, then, but not till then!
| Madmoments: or First Verseattempts | |