 | Threescore, and other poems |  |
40
TO ÆSCHYLUS.
(After reading “The Maxims witty and wise of the Athenian tragic Drama by D'Arcy W. Thompson.”)
How wise thou art!—so prematurely wiseWe wonder at the words that fall from thee,
Words of such wide-embracing sympathy
They clasp our feelings' brood and thoughts that rise
From the best brains, as they were modern-new.
But still thou dost not, couldst not, shouldst not, reach
That beaming height of wisdom whence to teach,
What to humanity is foremost true,
Of Love the power and good and peerless beauty,
Th' immortal life and wealth and depth of Duty,—
Deeps which were later probed by a great Soul,
A soul so tender strong, so simply fine,
Men face not yet his facts in their bright whole,
But veil them with beliefs as crude as thine.
| Threescore, and other poems | |