Lamentations
The holy dangerous ray
It shuns, to join the press
That throngs the gaslit way
Of bare and hard success,
And sinks at last, unmissed, to night and nothingness.
It shuns, to join the press
That throngs the gaslit way
Of bare and hard success,
And sinks at last, unmissed, to night and nothingness.
Oh, thou that wouldst not soar,
Methinks 'twere nobler done
To rise, as rose of yore
Resplendent Phaethon,
And fall—but fall, like him, a rival of the sun!
Methinks 'twere nobler done
To rise, as rose of yore
Resplendent Phaethon,
And fall—but fall, like him, a rival of the sun!
And if I sigh for Age
Because it is too late,
Because it has grown sage,
But cannot mend its fate,
And knows not what Life is till Death is at the gate,
Because it is too late,
Because it has grown sage,
But cannot mend its fate,
And knows not what Life is till Death is at the gate,
Still more for Age I mourn
Because it is afraid,
With all its vows forsworn,
The world's great cause to aid,
And thinks man will not change, but be as he was. made.
Because it is afraid,
With all its vows forsworn,
The world's great cause to aid,
And thinks man will not change, but be as he was. made.
And Love—man's doom and jest—
What hast thou here to do?
What hast thou here to do?
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