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72
[Earthborn, in earthly things much sport I find]
Earthborn, in earthly things much sport I find;Yet willingly would leave them all behind.
[Other men, we think]
Other men, we think,Of life's dear pleasures drink,
Unmix'd with drops of care;
While chiefly sours
Are ours,
And thoughts disconsolate.
But even as they seem
To us, of us they deem;
Their happy times are rare,
And tangled still
With ill;
For such is human fate.
73
[How short is the life of a man!]
How short is the life of a man!How often that life is too long!
He won't do the little he can;
The little he does is done wrong.
[New things happen every day]
New things happen every day,Or old things happen some new way;
Old things happen over and over,
Still for new people to discover;
New-old things on the same life-road,
New folk treading where old have trod,
Where each can only see what he can,
A stone is a stone, and a man is a man.
—But what is a Man? O tell me this,
And give me your shoe, my king, to kiss!
Suppose it means no more, after all,
Than leaves that sprout and leaves that fall?
Suppose, now, “Soul” should really be
The nursling of this Infinity?
74
[Man's life is not too happy at the best]
Man's life is not too happy at the best;How artfully he doth himself molest!
Refusing many good things close at hand,
Hurting himself with ills himself hath plann'd.
[The cruellest of animals is Man]
The cruellest of animals is Man,By his own doing, not by nature's plan.
[If too presumptuous 'twere to pray]
If too presumptuous 'twere to prayFor happy hours, yet this we may—
Grant us to know,
Ye Mystic Powers!
Our happy hours
Before they go.
[What bodily and mental fuss]
What bodily and mental fussAfflicts us every one!
The Devil when he peeps at us
Must find it glorious fun
To see nine-tenths of all Man does
Had better not be done.
75
[How grave (the child thinks) deep and wise]
How grave (the child thinks) deep and wise,Reproving folly, are men's eyes!—
Not guessing with what pompous airs
We go about our mean affairs.
[Just at the age when a man is clearest and firmest in mind]
Just at the age when a man is clearest and firmest in mind,In a network of foolish circumstance too often he sits entwined.
[O were I but rid of these ties]
O were I but rid of these tiesAdieu to vexation and sorrow!
O were I but rid of these ties—
To go knotting up new ones to-morrow!
[What hinders me, you ask, to do my best?]
What hinders me, you ask, to do my best?Why, all the world,—and you among the rest.
76
[Clever Youth of acquisitive turn]
Clever Youth of acquisitive turn,From an idle poet deign to learn;
If you want to be rich and praised in your day,
What fits the time you must do and say,
And carefully shun to say or do
What you deepliest know to be right and true.
[The Spirit said “Be on my side]
The Spirit said “Be on my side,O rare Man!” How hath he replied?
The poet sings a perjured song;
Comfort has bribed him to the wrong;
The preacher leaves a truth unsaid
Would rob his house of daily bread;
The satirist bows among the rest
Before the target of his jest.
The stolid sensual world controls
And subjugates the choicest souls.
Dead Salt.
Poor Age! if even thy greatest are not trueTo thee or to themselves, what canst thou do?
77
[I cannot see, but still I can conceive]
I cannot see, but still I can conceiveAn Honest Man,—which doth some comfort give.
[O the swarm of trifles]
O the swarm of triflesThat teases and rifles!
You're match'd against fate
When the combat is great,
Against demons you fight,
Not with bugs pass your night;
But the swarm of trifles
It worries, it stifles!
[How obey, yet be autocrat still?]
How obey, yet be autocrat still?Will to give up your own will.
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