Rosemary and Pansies/Matthew Arnold
He looked around upon a world of wrong
With sorrowing spirit, pity infinite;
He saw the weak made victims of the strong,
And obscene darkness triumph over light:
He saw that men unmoved by argument,
Who turned away with scorn from wisdom's school,
Shrank from the lash of satire's chastisement,
And feared the laughing lips of ridicule:
He saw the falseness of the common creeds
And cared not to conceal his deep disdain,
Yet from himself could not root out the weeds
Convention had implanted in his brain;
And so he failed to see 'twas a vain task
To pour new wine into an outworn cask.
With sorrowing spirit, pity infinite;
He saw the weak made victims of the strong,
And obscene darkness triumph over light:
He saw that men unmoved by argument,
Who turned away with scorn from wisdom's school,
Shrank from the lash of satire's chastisement,
And feared the laughing lips of ridicule:
He saw the falseness of the common creeds
And cared not to conceal his deep disdain,
Yet from himself could not root out the weeds
Convention had implanted in his brain;
And so he failed to see 'twas a vain task
To pour new wine into an outworn cask.