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THE GOOD AND THE BEAUTIFUL.
Foster the Good, and thou
shalt tend the Flower
Already sown on
earth;—
Foster the Beautiful, and
every hour
Thou call’st
new flowers to birth!
* * * * *
TO ——.
Give me that which thou know’st—I’ll
receive and attend;—
But thou giv’st me thyself—pri’thee
spare me, my friend.
* * * * *
GENIUS.
That which hath been can INTELLECT
declare,
What Nature built—it
imitates or gilds—
And REASON builds o’er
Nature—but in air—
Genius
alone in Nature—Nature builds.
* * * * *
CORRECTNESS—(Free translation.)
The calm correctness where
no fault we see
Attests Art’s loftiest—or
its least degree;
Alike the smoothness of the
surface shows
The Pool’s dull stagnor—the
great Sea’s repose!
* * * * *
THE IMITATOR.
Good out of good—that
art is known to all—
But Genius from the bad the
good can call—
Thou, mimic, not from leading
strings escaped,
Work’st but the matter
that’s already shaped!
The already shaped a nobler
hand awaits—
All matter asks a spirit that
creates.
* * * * *
THE MASTER.
The herd of Scribes by what
they tell us
Show all in which their wits
excel us;
But the true Master we behold
In what his art leaves—just
untold!
* * * * *
TO THE MYSTIC.
That is the real mystery which
around
All life, is found;—
Which still before all eyes
for aye has been,
Nor eye hath seen!
* * * * *
ASTRONOMICAL WORKS.
All measureless, all infinite
in awe,
Heaven to great
souls is given—
And yet the sprite of littleness
can draw
Down to its inch—the
Heaven!
* * * * *
THE DIVISION OF RANKS.
Yes, there’s a patent
of nobility
Above the meanness
of our common state;
With what they do the
vulgar natures buy
Its titles—and
with what they are, the great!
* * * * *
THEOPHANY.
When draw the Prosperous near
me, I forget
The gods of heaven;
but where
Sorrow and suffering in my
sight are set,
The gods, I feel,
are there!
