Classic Poem

PAGANISM I NEVITABLE

A rejected passage written for “Lucifer”

(Athena addresses Hermes)

Brainsick men
Need brainsick gods. Some spirits crave our forms;
Others are dark with their intestine storms
And can not relish beauty. Even then,
When wise men honoured us, the vulgar heart
Worshipped itself. In vain the temple stood
Aloof in the dim silence of some wood
Oracular to mortals, far apart
From hot disquiet; in vain the god, well-wrought
By hands I guided, smiled superbly down.
What might a Zeus be to a tyrant's thought?
An Aphrodite to a sluttish clown?
They sacrificed for gain: one lamb they brought
To save a thousand, hallowing meat and wine
Vainly with words, and lightening not their cares.
Men pray for many things, and still they pine,
But to grow better is the best of prayers
When in our presence mortals unawares
Wax to our stature and become divine.
Therefore I mark not closely how the blind
Picture our nature. It is not their mind
That gave us being. They invoke us still
For in their bosoms stirs unquenchable will,
And brooding silent at Jehovah's shrine,
Empty and imageless, the warm heart paints,
Beyond invisible gods and haggard saints,
The likeness of thy beauty, or of mine.