Classic Poem

Therefore I said unto my Soul, “Rejoice,
Oh Soul, be comforted, for thou long time
Hast fared upon the snow-clad heights, and breathed
The icy mountain air, and watched the dawn
Steal upward from the Eastern rim, and marked
The silver shafts transmuted into gold
By the uprushing Sun, and oft alone,
Sole, unattended, save of thine own strength,
Above the slumbering cities seen the throngs
Wake the hushed streets, and heard the warring sounds
Of joy and sorrow, birth and death, arise,
Blent in the sweet sad symphony of Life,
And the tired world revive. And thou hast smiled,
Flouting the aimless struggle from afar
On thy untrodden height, the stress, the toil,
And trouble of the Race; dwelling apart
From wars and tribulations, and the clash
And jangle of opposing schools, convinced
That all alike were vain, and mocking all.

“Nor hast thou bowed thee with hysteric zeal
At shrines which were not Reason's, casting down
The birthright of thy freedom and the gains
Of Man's long upward struggle, and the hope
Of his high-soaring Future, in the mire
At the priest's bidding, while the blinding fumes
Of the swung censers and the magic spell
Of Art and Music chained thee, eye and ear.
But standing cold, aloof, disdain'dst to kneel
Where the throng knelt, incredulous, alone.

“Nor hast thou wallowed in the sensual sty,
Nor known the fetters Sloth and Dalliance
Bind round the nascent life, the mists of sense
Quenching Youth's pure white fire; but by thy cell
And midnight lamp, Divine Philosophy
Sate grave, with clear cold eyes; and wholesome toil
Engrossed thy days and purged thee of all stain
Of sin, till thou, to godlike stature grown,
Didst spurn the grosser Earth.
Therefore, oh Soul,
Rejoice, and be thou glad.”


But not a word
Of answer came, but through the formless void,
Beyond the circuits of the faintest stars,
A thin wail, like the melancholy wind
Among the high-set pines or caverned rocks,
Hopeless, revoluble, reverberant,
And deepening to a groan, which seemed to say,
“Oh, self-deceived, self-righteous, nothing worth,
And self-betrayed! Oh, fool! in vain! in vain!”