Classic Poem

THE Stranger .

I feel deep shame — I must regain my calm;
But I shall prove apt learner. Here is end;
True, I was wrong to hope acquaintanceship
With action's small dexterities a task
Requiring little time; the soul descends
With troubled steps into an alien region.
The wisdom offered me with free outpour
I long have found stale and unprofitable.
Men have their functions, and the thinker stern
Is not the least of creatures; but I feel shamed
At having touched that baser sphere, and known
Weak thrills of soft lascivious feeling stir
My heart bemired; some large and cleansing thought
Will rid me of these stains! In the clear stream
Of some great book I needs must bathe, perform
Some vast and expiatory toil of brain.
I scorn myself, the humiliation beats
Against my brows, and drains my veins of blood.
The truths they spake have only relevance
Where souls yet infantile perforce seek aid
From mutual stress, that subtle slavery
Whence highest man superb erects himself,
And being all, is freedom, his true self.
But I shall soon forget; these latest throes
Fall from me as the cool clear drops of rain
From burnished leaves amid the sober wood.
I am restored unto myself — and never hence
Shall I make wandering; where I early found
The voice of passion fail in the far reaches,
And youth's hot tumult melt in grateful peace,
I shall abide; the wall of chill reserve
I build more just and firm. Here is no failure,
Rather a clear recall my inmost soul
Sounds, that no further I may tread the steep,
And fall to lot of common humankind.
Like one who travels from a city's bounds,
And sees the lessening lights upon the night,
And the wide circle of his sight grows lone,
But overhead the large-faced moon is calm,
And the great winds are free to utter speech —
The city's tumult left behind, the pain of friendship,
The fierce remorse of love, the belittling sense
That comes of too much intercourse with men,
All these and worser left behind forever —
While the vext heart resumes its nobler peace,
The sea of thought upheaves no more with storm,
And inner weds the outer large repose,
Like him who thus hath found what long he sought,
I wander inward from the wizard sense,
Release me from its many dear deceits,
And rest within the spirit's solitude.
O mighty Thought! O Silence vast, profound!
O region of Ideals still, majestic,
The very temple and the home of Gods,
The atmosphere of causes, and the eagle-nest
Of glorious influences ruling all the worlds,
In you my mind and soul shall ever dwell!
O noblest Truth! to you is dedicate
My mind, my strength, my hope, my all of being,
You take I for my bride, you sole I love,
Upon your altar as a sacrifice
I shed my blood, and sink in worldless rest!