Poems (Sackville)/Weakness
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WEAKNESS
He was not strong enough to break away
From ignorant bonds which hinder men and blind
To snap the prison-bars of yesterday,
Or curb the natural follies of mankind.
From ignorant bonds which hinder men and blind
To snap the prison-bars of yesterday,
Or curb the natural follies of mankind.
Nature and Beauty called to him, but here
Old thoughts and aspirations bound him still—
Abortive hopes, and dreams confused and sere
Darkened the vague horizon of his will.
Old thoughts and aspirations bound him still—
Abortive hopes, and dreams confused and sere
Darkened the vague horizon of his will.
Part of eternal Beauty—crowned with light—
A thought of God—even thus and thus his soul
Conceived itself—but subtle hands of night
Wove webs of shadow and obscured the whole.
A thought of God—even thus and thus his soul
Conceived itself—but subtle hands of night
Wove webs of shadow and obscured the whole.
He heard the ages calling, and the skies
And mountains and, to greet him, song on song
Of deathless poets, crowned with music, rise—
Yet swooned midst clashing chords of right and wrong.
And mountains and, to greet him, song on song
Of deathless poets, crowned with music, rise—
Yet swooned midst clashing chords of right and wrong.
He sang; one moment strong, with gasping breath,
Rose high, then gazed where yet his prison lay,
Grew faint to see what torture stretched beneath—
Fell; and his chains cling closer day by day.
Rose high, then gazed where yet his prison lay,
Grew faint to see what torture stretched beneath—
Fell; and his chains cling closer day by day.