Firdausi in Exile and Other Poems | ||
212
THE TWOFOLD VOICE.
A double voice cries in the spirit of Man,As though upon a mortal stage he saw
Apollo's murmuring daughter, crazed with awe,
Change parts, and shout as Clytemnestra can;
For in the blaze of life he turns to scan
The dim ghost-haunted face of outraged law,
And feels the flames rise, and the serpents gnaw
Through the gilt tissue of his hope's bright plan;
And thus the heavy animal part of him,—
Never at rest to ponder or rejoice,—
Sways, blindly shaken by that twofold voice;
Beneath the axe of Pleasure, void and dim
The dull brain reels, and the vext senses swim,
Or Conscience thrills him with her piercing noise.
Firdausi in Exile and Other Poems | ||