Recaptured Rhymes Being a Batch of Political and Other Fugitives Arrested and Brought to Book. By H. D. Traill |
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THE REGION OF DREAM. |
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 | Recaptured Rhymes |  |
29
THE REGION OF DREAM.
In a legend of old 'tis recorded for us
That the air and the sea and the land
To the children of man were distributed thus
By Zeus his apportioning hand:
That the air and the sea and the land
To the children of man were distributed thus
By Zeus his apportioning hand:
He appointed the land for the Workers to share,
And the sea for the Poet to roam,
But assigned in his wisdom the vacuous air
For the Higher Philosopher's home.
And the sea for the Poet to roam,
But assigned in his wisdom the vacuous air
For the Higher Philosopher's home.
“Go wander,” said Zeus to this last (we were taught),
“Where alone there is room for your schemes,
In a region as wide as the reach of your thought,
And as lofty—and void—as your dreams.
“Where alone there is room for your schemes,
In a region as wide as the reach of your thought,
And as lofty—and void—as your dreams.
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“Here is food for your mind, for your body a feast
Of the which never dearth can befall,
Ay, a plenty of nourishing wind from the East
To fill you your belly withal.
Of the which never dearth can befall,
Ay, a plenty of nourishing wind from the East
To fill you your belly withal.
“From the clouds you may gather your theory-stuff,
Definitions from tracks of the birds,
Here are mists in abundance and more than enough
For becomingly clothing your words.
Definitions from tracks of the birds,
Here are mists in abundance and more than enough
For becomingly clothing your words.
“Here perform at your leisure the feats that you love
Unrestrained by conditions of place,
And leap from the plane where your premisses move
To conclusions in Infinite Space.
Unrestrained by conditions of place,
And leap from the plane where your premisses move
To conclusions in Infinite Space.
“I will give you, to deck your magnificent views,
The run of the rainbow-span,
And allow you the pick of the sunset hues
To adorn your ‘Future-of-Man,’”
The run of the rainbow-span,
And allow you the pick of the sunset hues
To adorn your ‘Future-of-Man,’”
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Thus Zeus, in the legend, ordained it, and hence
Mankind have been wont to declare
Of all Theory freed from the trammels of sense,
That its natural home is the air.
Mankind have been wont to declare
Of all Theory freed from the trammels of sense,
That its natural home is the air.
But now would you know the Chimera's abode,
And the kingdom of Folly Supreme?
Would you seek, in these days, to discover the road
To the genuine region of dream?
And the kingdom of Folly Supreme?
Would you seek, in these days, to discover the road
To the genuine region of dream?
It is not in the vacuous air, it is not
In the wandering clouds, wind-blown.
The region of dream is the three-acre plot
Where an Irishman's “praties” are sown.
In the wandering clouds, wind-blown.
The region of dream is the three-acre plot
Where an Irishman's “praties” are sown.
It is here where the eye philosophic detects
The suspension of natural laws;
Where causes omit to engender effects
And effects can dispense with a cause.
The suspension of natural laws;
Where causes omit to engender effects
And effects can dispense with a cause.
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It is here where the marvels of magical spell
Medieval find credit once more,
And “peasant-proprietor” conjures as well
As an “Abracadabra” of yore.
Medieval find credit once more,
And “peasant-proprietor” conjures as well
As an “Abracadabra” of yore.
It is here, it is here, on the Irishman's farm
Where alchemic economists hold
That to utter the “peasant-proprietor” charm
Transmutes the base metals to gold,
Where alchemic economists hold
That to utter the “peasant-proprietor” charm
Transmutes the base metals to gold,
That by force of this sorcery Waste becomes Thrift
And energy springs out of Sloth,
That the burden of Need reappears as a gift
And exhaustion of soil as a growth.
And energy springs out of Sloth,
That the burden of Need reappears as a gift
And exhaustion of soil as a growth.
Ah! bodiless, limitless regions of space!
What dream have you brought to the birth
So fantastic as this whose nativity-place
Is the solid, dull, definite earth?
What dream have you brought to the birth
So fantastic as this whose nativity-place
Is the solid, dull, definite earth?
| Recaptured Rhymes | |