O sculptor! well thy task is done
Unto the dead existence giving;
So marvelous that lifeless stone
Becomes the envy of the living.
Unto the dead existence giving;
So marvelous that lifeless stone
Becomes the envy of the living.
O statue! sinless, heartless, blind,
Mock, pity, hate us who are human;
No sufferer in thee may find
The sympathy and love of woman.
Mock, pity, hate us who are human;
No sufferer in thee may find
The sympathy and love of woman.
Better to know pain's cruel rack,
To feel life's fiery furnace fever
Than bloodless, nerveless, live and lack
The heart's high hope, the soul's endeavor.
To feel life's fiery furnace fever
Than bloodless, nerveless, live and lack
The heart's high hope, the soul's endeavor.
Better to feel remorse's pangs
And vain regrets and dark despairing,
And slander's poison serpent fangs,
And see earth's wrong and see it, caring,
And vain regrets and dark despairing,
And slander's poison serpent fangs,
And see earth's wrong and see it, caring,
Than never know the recompense
Of earnest toil and noble striving,
Than never feel in holiest sense
The love, the hope, the joy of living.
Of earnest toil and noble striving,
Than never feel in holiest sense
The love, the hope, the joy of living.
Better to welcome age with brow
Grown furrowed in the path of duty
Than stand as thou art standing now
In statuesque and useless beauty.
Grown furrowed in the path of duty
Than stand as thou art standing now
In statuesque and useless beauty.
Who'd be a statue wrought of gold
Worthy the worship of a pagan,
Glistening with jewels manifold,
Costlier far than Baal or Dagon?
Worthy the worship of a pagan,
Glistening with jewels manifold,
Costlier far than Baal or Dagon?
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