Poems (Hoffman)/The Unattained
THE UNATTAINED(A Sunset Harmony.)
My friend come with me to the ferny brinkOf this clear spring shut in by clustering treesAnd from my cup the crystal coolness drink,Is this the end to live, to love, to think,And thus to quench that still unsatisfied and longing thirstFor sky-flight—'till the bird its cage would burstUnsoothed by things like these,—Siesta, friendship, thought, stagnation gained?Through these still treesI catch a soul-glimpse of those sunset towers, free and unchained,A glimpse of silver seas and golden shoresAnd city turrets,—thrones where thought has reigned—I almost hear the plash of amber oars,I almost see the thrill of fluttering sails,But not with earthly eyes.Too far it liesIn the dim distance of the unattained.
Somewhere far backSweet visions of a sunrise threw their glow,Across the path my child-faith longed to go;But that is gone, sometimes I half forgetThat brightening dawnOf hope and faith and high ambition's flightFor life goes on and on,A level plain, a toilsome beaten track,With here and there a wood, a sheltered spring,A little flower to bloom, a bird to sing.But I will not look back,No: better forward to that grand eclipseOf all that man has sought for or has gained,The sunset vision of the unattained.
What though my feet had reached the utmost roundOf all my early hopes, and plans, and aims,Still earthly ladders reach but earthly ground;And though my heart is painedSo often, that I was too weak to climbTo those loved heights 'till passed the golden time;Earthward sometimes there is from Heaven let down,A higher path than man has ever gained,Above the weak acclaim of passing crowds,Above earth's mountain peaks,Upon the cloudsFor him who fails to climb earth's dizzy heights,Whose patient sweetness is his only crown.
God writes,And from white cloud scrolls His bright promise speaks,When to aspiring souls that have not gained their earth desires.
God lightsHis sunset fires and dims the glory of earth's unattained.