 | Sonnets to the Universe |  |
16
The True Reward
What do I seek? What does my soul desire?To give desire a fuller, freer scope:
To make intenser its intensest fire:
To pass beyond the horizon of its hope.
What vision lures me on? What dream sustains?
No prize of victory. No garnered fruit.
I reap my harvest in my wounds, my pains,
The stress of strife, the ardour of pursuit.
Why do I strive? That I may strive the more.
Why do I toil? Not for life's daily bread.
Why do I climb? That I may learn to soar.
Success, achievement is the doom I dread.
Have I succeeded? One reward I claim—
A task beyond my compass and my aim.
| Sonnets to the Universe | |