of what all men will some day inviolably hold for true.  And forasmuch as poets are the advanced guard of the marching army of humanity, therefore they are necessarily the first discoverers and proclaimers of the new landscapes and ranges of Duties and Rights that rise out of the horizon, point after point, and vista after vista, along the line of progress.  For the sonnet of the poet today is to furnish the keynote of the morrow’s speech in Parliament, as that which yesterday was song is today the current prose of the hustings, the pulpit, and the market.  Wherefore, O poet, take heart for the world; thou, in whose utterance speaks the inevitable Future; who art thyself God’s prophecy and covenant of what the race at large shall one day be!  Sing thy songs, utter thine whole intent, recount thy vision; though today no one heed thee, thou hast nevertheless spoken, and the spoken word is not lost.  Every true thought lives, because the Spirit of God is in it, and when time is ripe it will incarnate itself in action.  Thou, thou art the creator, the man of thought; thou art the pioneer of the ages!

Somewhat on this wise sang the fairy bird, and thereby the poet was comforted, and took courage, and lifted up his voice and his apocalypse.  And though few people cared to hear, and many jeered, and some rebuked, he minded only that all he should say might be well said, and be as perfect and wise and worthy as he could make it.  And when he had finished his testimony, he went forth from the gates of the town, and began once more to traverse the solitudes of moor and forest.

But now the winter had set in over the land, and the wastes were bleak, and the trees stood like pallid ghosts, sheeted and shrouded in snow.  And the north wind moaned across the open country, and the traveler grew cold and weary.  Then he spoke to the bird and said, “Bird, when I and my companions set out on our journey from the land beyond the sunset, the Princess promised us each a guide, who should bring us back in safety if only we would faithfully heed his monitions.  Where then is this guide? for hitherto I have walked alone, and have seen no leader.

And the bird answered, “O poet, I, whom thou bearest about in thy bosom, am that guide and monitor!  I am thy director, thine angel, and thine inward light.  And to each of thy companions a like guide was vouchsafed, but the man of appetite drove away his monitor, and the man of intellect did even worse, for he gave over to death his friend and his better self.  Gold against dross, the wisdom of the Gods against the knowledges of men!  But thou, poet, art the child of the Gods, and thou alone shalt again behold with joy the land beyond the sunset, and the face of Her whose true servitor and knight thou art!”