WHEN the primeval Father, Changeless and holy, Sows in His bounty, With free hand and tranquil, From the rolling clouds, Joy-diffusing lightnings O'er the wide earth, Then the last hem of His garment I kiss with childlike awe and devotion— My heart is filled with His homage. For never against the immortals May a mortal Measure himself. If heavenward he soar And touch with his forehead The stars in their courses, His feet, insecure, Shall find no abiding; Clouds and tempest Shall sport with his weakness. With limbs firm and sinewy, Let him stand without tremor Upon the green earth enduring; Content to resemble the oak or the ivy. How shall we distinguish The gods from men? Before them the billows, An infinite stream, Roll onward forever; Us a wave raises, Us a wave swallows, And we vanish. A little rounded link Encircles our life; Yet generations of mortals Weld themselves firmly To the unending chain Of human existence. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DIRGE (1) by RALPH WALDO EMERSON BOSTON COMMON: 1869 by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES RENASCENCE by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY VIRGILS GNAT by EDMUND SPENSER AGAINST IDLENESS AND MISCHIEF by ISAAC WATTS THAT GENERAL UTILITY RAG, BY OUR OWN IRVING BERLIN by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS LILIES: 27. THE WAVE-TOSSED VESSEL by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |