The Poems of Sidney Lanier by Sidney Lanier
page 136 of 312 (43%)
page 136 of 312 (43%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
|
`How?' quoth Love:
"`For lakes of pain, yon pleasant plain Of woods and grass and yellow grain Doth ravish the soul and sense: And never a sigh beneath the sky, And folk that smile and gaze above --' `But saw'st thou here, with thine own eye, Hell?' quoth Love. "`I saw true hell with mine own eye, True hell, or light hath told a lie, True, verily,' quoth stout Sense. Then Love rode round and searched the ground, The caves below, the hills above; `But I cannot find where thou hast found Hell,' quoth Love. "There, while they stood in a green wood And marvelled still on Ill and Good, Came suddenly Minister Mind. `In the heart of sin doth hell begin: 'Tis not below, 'tis not above, It lieth within, it lieth within:' (`Where?' quoth Love) "`I saw a man sit by a corse; `Hell's in the murderer's breast: remorse!' Thus clamored his mind to his mind: Not fleshly dole is the sinner's goal, |
|


