 | Stones from The Quarry |  |
INTELLECTUAL LABOUR.
Dogs at the mouth sweat; so do many men,More women still themselves by mouth do spend,
And, with much labour, neither make nor mend!
But they who think by brain sweat and at pen;
And their sweat-drops are pearls, or pearls' worth, when
They crystallize, and, in brave words set, send
(True gems of thought) forth lustrous light, and lend
New grace to grace, grace things ungraced till then.
This sweat, no product of the common blood,
But wrung from the fine ichor of the brain
By long gestation, birth-throes, such as should
Precede, with mingled ecstasy and pain,
Minervalike-delivery, nought could
Save Jove-like labour yield, and with like strain!
| Stones from The Quarry | |