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|
 | The poems of Madison Cawein |  |
420
FAILURE
There are some souls
Whose lot it is to set their hearts on goals
That adverse Fate controls.
Whose lot it is to set their hearts on goals
That adverse Fate controls.
While others win
With little labor through life's dust and din,
And lord-like enter in
With little labor through life's dust and din,
And lord-like enter in
Immortal gates;
And, of Success the high-born intimates,
Inherit Fame's estates. . . .
And, of Success the high-born intimates,
Inherit Fame's estates. . . .
Why is't the lot
Of merit oft to struggle and yet not
Attain? to toil—for what?
Of merit oft to struggle and yet not
Attain? to toil—for what?
Simply to know
The disappointment, the despair, and woe
Of effort here below?
The disappointment, the despair, and woe
Of effort here below?
421
Ambitious still to reach
Those lofty peaks, which men, aspiring, preach,
For which their souls beseech:
Those lofty peaks, which men, aspiring, preach,
For which their souls beseech:
Those heights that swell
Remote, removed, and unattainable,
Pinnacle on pinnacle:
Remote, removed, and unattainable,
Pinnacle on pinnacle:
Still yearning to attain
Their far repose, above life's stress and strain,
But all in vain, in vain! . . .
Their far repose, above life's stress and strain,
But all in vain, in vain! . . .
Why hath God put
Great longings in some souls and straightway shut
All doors of their clay hut?
Great longings in some souls and straightway shut
All doors of their clay hut?
The clay accurst
That holds achievement back; from which, immersed,
The spirit may not burst.
That holds achievement back; from which, immersed,
The spirit may not burst.
Were it, at least;
Not better to have sat at Circe's feast,
If afterwards a beast?
Not better to have sat at Circe's feast,
If afterwards a beast?
422
Than aye to bleed,
To strain and strive, to toil in thought and deed,
And nevermore succeed?
To strain and strive, to toil in thought and deed,
And nevermore succeed?
| The poems of Madison Cawein | |