Page:Will to Believe and Other Essays (1897).djvu/58

“‘The social pleasures with their genial wit;
     The fascination of the worlds of art;
The glories of the worlds of Nature lit
     By large imagination’s glowing heart;

“‘The rapture of mere being, full of health;
     The careless childhood and the ardent youth;
The strenuous manhood winning various wealth,
     The reverend age serene with life's long truth:

“‘All the sublime prerogatives of Man;
     The storied memories of the times of old,
The patient tracking of the world's great plan
     Through sequences and changes myriadfold.

“‘This chance was never offered me before;
     For me the infinite past is blank and dumb;
This chance recurreth never, nevermore;
     Blank, blank for me the infinite To-come.

“‘And this sole chance was frustrate from my birth,
     A mockery, a delusion; and my breath
Of noble human life upon this earth
     So racks me that I sigh for senseless death.

“‘My wine of life is poison mixed with gall,
     My noonday passes in a nightmare dream,
I worse than lose the years which are my all:
     What can console me for the loss supreme?

“‘Speak not of comfort where no comfort is,
     Speak not at all: can words make foul things fair?
Our life’s a cheat, our death a black abyss:
     Hush, and be mute, envisaging despair.’

“This vehement voice came from the northern aisle,
     Rapid and shrill to its abrupt harsh close;
And none gave answer for a certain while,
     For words must shrink from these most wordless woes;
At last the pulpit speaker simply said,
With humid eyes and thoughtful, drooping head,—