Poems — Volume 2 by George Meredith
page 280 of 296 (94%)
page 280 of 296 (94%)
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Intelligence pushing to taste
A lesson from beasts might heed. They scatter a voice in the waste, Where any dry swish of a reed By grey-glassy water replies. 'They see not above or below; Farthest are they from my soul,' Earth whispers: 'they scarce have the thirst, Except to unriddle a rune; And I spin none; only show, Would humanity soar from its worst, Winged above darkness and dole, How flesh unto spirit must grow. Spirit raves not for a goal. Shapes in man's likeness hewn Desires not; neither desires The sleep or the glory: it trusts; Uses my gifts, yet aspires; Dreams of a higher than it. The dream is an atmosphere; A scale still ascending to knit The clear to the loftier Clear. 'Tis Reason herself, tiptoe At the ultimate bound of her wit, On the verges of Night and Day. But is it a dream of the lusts, To my dustiest 'tis decreed; And them that so shuffle astray I touch with no key of gold |
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