30
SONGS, LEGENDS, AND BALLADS.
The throbbing brain will burst its tender raiment
With futile force, to see by finite light
How man's brief earning and eternal payment
Are weighed as equal in th' Infinite sight.
'Tis all in vain to struggle with abstraction—
The milky-way that tempts our mental glass;
The study for mankind is earth-born action;
The highest wisdom, let the wondering pass.
The Lord knows best: He gave us thirst for learning;
And deepest knowledge of His work betrays
No thirst left waterless. Shall our soul-yearning,
Apart from all things, be a quenchless blaze?
