CX. HIGH wisdom holds my wisdom less, That I, who gaze with temperate eyes On glorious insufficiencies, Set light by narrower perfectness. But thou, that fillest all the room I seem to cast a careless eye For what wert thou? some novel power And hope could never hope too much, In watching thee from hour to hour, Large elements in order brought, And tracts of calm from tempest made, In vassal tides that followed thought. CXI. 'TIS held that sorrow makes us wise; Yet how much wisdom sleeps with thee Which not alone had guided me, But served the seasons that may rise; For can I doubt who knew thee keen To strive, to fashion, to fulfil— A life in civic action warm, A soul on highest mission sent, A pillar steadfast in the storm, Should licensed boldness gather force, Becoming, when the time has birth, A lever to uplift the earth And roll it in another course, With many shocks that come and go, With agonies, with energies, With overthrowings, and with cries, And undulations to and fro. CXII. WHO loves not knowledge? Who shall rail Against her beauty? May she mix With men and prosper! Who shall fix Let her work prevail. Her pillars? But on her forehead sits a fire: She sets her forward countenance And leaps into the future chance, Submitting all things to desire. Half-grown as yet, a child, and vain- Of Demons ? fiery-hot to burst All barriers in her onward race For power. Let her know her place ; She is the second, not the first. A higher hand must make her mild, Her footsteps, moving side by side For she is earthly of the mind, But wisdom heavenly of the soul. So early, leaving me behind, I would the great world grew like thee, And knowledge, but from hour to hour In reverence and in charity. N |