I THOUGHT of life, the outer and the inner, As I was walking by the sea: How vague, unshapen this, and that, though thinner, Yet hard and clear in its rigidity. Then took I up the fragment of a shell, And saw its accurate loveliness, And searched its filmy lines, its pearly cell, And all that keen contention to express A finite thought. And then I recognised God's working in the shell from root to rim, And said: -- "He works till He has realised -- O Heaven! if I could only work like Him!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AFTER DIVORCE; FOR NAHID SARMAD by KAREN SWENSON ODE; SUNG BY THE CHILDREN OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS by W. T. ADAMS AN EPITAPH ON A DUTCH CAPTAIN by PHILIP AYRES A MASQUE OF DEAD QUEENS by STANLEY E. BABB THE PASQUE FLOWER by STELLA PFEIFFER BAISCH |