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!
But, Heaven can not be built with jewelled hands? Then—from my own I wringGlitter 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?
Heaven must have flowers—after the worm has crossed Their blush, the wind their breathAfter the utter silence of the frost Has made them white with death?
Heaven must have music—but the birds that sing In that divinest nestThither 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!