Leave the flesh to the fate it was fit for! the spirit be thine! 160
By the spirit, when age shall o’ercome thee, thou still shalt enjoy
More indeed, than at first when, inconscious, the life of a boy. 
Crush that life, and behold its wine running!  Each deed thou hast done
Dies, revives, goes to work in the world; until e’en as the sun
Looking down on the earth, tho’ clouds spoil him, tho’ tempests efface,
Can find nothing his own deed produced not, must everywhere trace
The results of his past summer-prime,—­so, each ray of thy will. 
Every flash of thy passion and prowess, long over, shall thrill
Thy whole people, the countless, with ardour, till they too give forth
A like cheer to their sons:  who in turn, fill the South and the North 170
With the radiance thy deed was the germ of.  Carouse in the past! 
But the license of age has its limit; thou diest at last. 
As the lion, when age dims his eyeball, the rose at her height,
So with man—­so his power and his beauty forever take flight. 
No!  Again a long draught of my soul-wine!  Look forth o’er the years! 
Thou hast done now with eyes for the actual; begin with the seer’s! 
Is Saul dead?  In the depth of the vale make his tomb—­bid arise
A gray mountain of marble heaped four-square, till, built to the skies,
Let it mark where the great First King slumbers:  whose fame would ye know? 
Up above see the rock’s naked face, where the record shall go 180
In great characters cut by the scribe,—­Such was Saul, so he did;
With the sages directing the work, by the populace chid,—­
For not half, they’ll affirm, is comprised there!  Which fault to amend,
In the grove with his kind grows the cedar, whereon they shall spend
(See, in tablets ’tis level before them) their praise, and record
With the gold of the graver, Saul’s story,—­the statesman’s great word. 
Side by side with the poet’s sweet comment.  The river’s a-wave
With smooth paper-reeds grazing each other when prophet-winds rave;
So the pen gives unborn generations their due and their part
In thy being!  Then, first of the mighty, thank God that thou art!” 190

XIV

And behold while I sang ... but O Thou who didst grant me that day,
And before it not seldom had granted Thy help to essay. 
Carry on and complete an adventure,—­my shield and my sword
In that act where my soul was Thy servant, Thy word was my word,—­
Still be with me, who then at the summit of human endeavour
And scaling the highest, man’s thought could, gazed hopeless as ever
On the new stretch of heaven above me—­till, mighty to save,
Just one lift of Thy hand cleared that distance—­God’s throne from man’s grave! 
Let me tell out my tale to its ending—­my voice to my heart
Which can scarce dare believe in what marvels last