Poems (Piatt)/Volume 2/Giving up the World
GIVING UP THE WORLD.
So, from the ruins of the world alone
Can Heaven be builded? Oh,
What other temples must be overthrown,
Founded in sand or snow!
Can Heaven be builded? Oh,
What other temples must be overthrown,
Founded in sand or snow!
But, Heaven can not be built with jewelled hands?
Then—from my own I wring
Glitter of gold, the gifts of many lands;
The seas their pearls I fling.
Then—from my own I wring
Glitter of gold, the gifts of many lands;
The seas their pearls I fling.
Heaven must be hung with pictures of the dead?
The shroud must robe the saint?
Never one halo round a living head
Would Raphael dare to paint?
The shroud must robe the saint?
Never one halo round a living head
Would Raphael dare to paint?
Heaven must have flowers—after the worm has crossed
Their blush, the wind their breath
After the utter silence of the frost
Has made them white with death?
Their blush, the wind their breath
After the utter silence of the frost
Has made them white with death?
Heaven must have music—but the birds that sing
In that divinest nest
Thither must waver, wounded in the wing
And wounded in the breast?
In that divinest nest
Thither must waver, wounded in the wing
And wounded in the breast?
Heaven must be lighted—at the fallen light
Of moon, and star, and sun?
Ah me! since these have made the earth too bright,
Let the dark Will be done!
Of moon, and star, and sun?
Ah me! since these have made the earth too bright,
Let the dark Will be done!