 | Voices and visions |  |
XIII
THE OUTLOOK
We prate of progress with so sure
A trust in its firm onward sweep,
As though mankind from sluggard sleep
Had risen, and sturdier and more pure,
Since warmed by his awakening hour,
Bloomed unmolested into statelier power.
A trust in its firm onward sweep,
As though mankind from sluggard sleep
Had risen, and sturdier and more pure,
Since warmed by his awakening hour,
Bloomed unmolested into statelier power.
58
Nay, Evolution, in thy name
Bewildering errors have been wrought.
Thou deadenest retrospective thought
Until its reach and scope are lame,
Until even fancy's backward bound
Thrills, pauses, at thine origins profound.
Bewildering errors have been wrought.
Thou deadenest retrospective thought
Until its reach and scope are lame,
Until even fancy's backward bound
Thrills, pauses, at thine origins profound.
Centuries are thy mere minutes; all
Of seeming betterment we trace
In any or every earthly race
To-morrow extinction with her pall
May shroud; and where vast sea now sighs,
Old submerged continents may re-arise!
Of seeming betterment we trace
In any or every earthly race
To-morrow extinction with her pall
May shroud; and where vast sea now sighs,
Old submerged continents may re-arise!
Once more from protoplasm's dull mire
May man crawl slothful, and once more
May nature thrust him, as of yore,
Through ape and cannibal to higher,
Till superstition's loom re-weaves
New mythic Edens, with new Adams, Eves.
May man crawl slothful, and once more
May nature thrust him, as of yore,
Through ape and cannibal to higher,
Till superstition's loom re-weaves
New mythic Edens, with new Adams, Eves.
Once more the old train of tragic things
May find our history so rehearsed
That poor mortality will be cursed
By new popes, priests, fanatics, kings,
New Neros, Torquemadas, new
Odiums of sect, with all dire deeds they do.
May find our history so rehearsed
That poor mortality will be cursed
By new popes, priests, fanatics, kings,
New Neros, Torquemadas, new
Odiums of sect, with all dire deeds they do.
59
Again, for ages dim as dream,
The annihilation may precede
The recommencement. Love, hate, greed,
Humanity, envy, ruth, may seem
To threads of that famed broidery kin
Which the Greek Queen, unravelling, would re-spin.
The annihilation may precede
The recommencement. Love, hate, greed,
Humanity, envy, ruth, may seem
To threads of that famed broidery kin
Which the Greek Queen, unravelling, would re-spin.
But always through each phase of change
Loitering, will flow henceforth as flows
To-day, one strenuous force (who knows?)
Toward riper growth and richer range. ...
It cost a million million years
To shape your eye that sees, mine ear that hears.
Loitering, will flow henceforth as flows
To-day, one strenuous force (who knows?)
Toward riper growth and richer range. ...
It cost a million million years
To shape your eye that sees, mine ear that hears.
The individual perishes; man thrives,
Though æons of stern failure balk
With ruining hindrance. We may talk
Whole heavens of hope about our lives
Hereafter, while our spendthrift days
Glare at us here with sarcasm in their gaze.
Though æons of stern failure balk
With ruining hindrance. We may talk
Whole heavens of hope about our lives
Hereafter, while our spendthrift days
Glare at us here with sarcasm in their gaze.
Live for the actual balm or sting
Of joys and sufferings that concern
The intense keen present. Nay, nor turn
Mystery's mute acolyte, and swing
Blind faith's theatric censer, fraught
With suave insidious fumes that strangle thought!
Of joys and sufferings that concern
The intense keen present. Nay, nor turn
Mystery's mute acolyte, and swing
Blind faith's theatric censer, fraught
With suave insidious fumes that strangle thought!
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