Paracelsus: Part I: Paracelsus Aspires Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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Scene W rzburg a garden in the environsA
Festus Paracelsus MichalB
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ParacelsusA
Come close to me dear friends still closer thusA
Close to the heart which though long time roll byC
Ere it again beat quicker pressed to yoursA
As now it beats perchance a long long timeD
At least henceforth your memories shall makeE
Quiet and fragrant as befits their homeF
Nor shall my memory want a home in yoursA
Alas that it requires too well such freeG
Forgiving love as shall embalm it thereH
For if you would remember me arightI
As I was born to be you must forgetI
All fitful strange and moody waywardnessA
Which e'er confused my better spirit to dwellJ
Only on moments such as these dear friendsA
My heart no truer but my words and waysA
More true to it as Michal some months henceA
Will say this autumn was a pleasant timeD
For some few sunny days and overlookK
Its bleak wind hankering after pining leavesA
Autumn would fain be sunny I would lookK
Liker my nature's truth and both are frailL
And both beloved for all our frailtyI
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MichalB
AureoleM
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ParacelsusA
Drop by drop she is weeping like a childI
Not so I am content more than contentI
Nay autumn wins you best by this its muteI
Appeal to sympathy for its decayN
Look up sweet Michal nor esteem the lessA
Your stained and drooping vines their grapes bow downO
Nor blame those creaking trees bent with their fruitI
That apple tree with a rare after birthP
Of peeping blooms sprinkled its wealth amongQ
Then for the winds what wind that ever ravedI
Shall vex that ash which overlooks you bothR
So proud it wears its berries Ah at lengthS
The old smile meet for her the lady of thisA
Sequestered nest this kingdom limitedI
Alone by one old populous green wallT
Tenanted by the ever busy fliesA
Grey crickets and shy lizards and quick spidersA
Each family of the silver threaded mossA
Which look through near this way and it appearsA
A stubble field or a cane brake a marshU
Of bulrush whitening in the sun laugh nowV
Fancy the crickets each one in his houseA
Looking out wondering at the world or bestI
Yon painted snail with his gay shell of dewI
Travelling to see the glossy balls high upW
Hung by the caterpillar like gold lampsA
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MichalB
In truth we have lived carelessly and wellJ
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ParacelsusA
And shall my perfect pair each trust me bornX
For the other nay your very hair when mixedI
Is of one hue For where save in this nookK
Shall you two walk when I am far awayN
And wish me prosperous fortune Stay that plantI
Shall never wave its tangles lightly and softlyI
As a queen's languid and imperial armY
Which scatters crowns among her lovers but youI
Shall be reminded to predict to meI
Some great success Ah see the sun sinks broadI
Behind Saint Saviour's wholly gone at lastI
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FestusA
Now Aureole stay those wandering eyes awhileZ
You are ours to night at least and while you spokeA2
Of Michal and her tears I thought that noneB2
Could willing leave what he so seemed to loveC2
But that last look destroys my dream that lookK
As if where'er you gazed there stood a starD2
How far was W rzburg with its church and spireE2
And garden walls and all things they containF2
From that look's far alightingK
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ParacelsusA
I but spokeK
And looked alike from simple joy to seeA
The beings I love best shut in so wellJ
From all rude chances like to be my lotI
That when afar my weary spirit disposedI
To lose awhile its care in soothing thoughtsA
Of them their pleasant features looks and wordsA
Needs never hesitate nor apprehendI
Encroaching trouble may have reached them tooI
Nor have recourse to fancy's busy aidI
And fashion even a wish in their behalfG2
Beyond what they possess already hereH2
But unobstructed may at once forgetI
Itself in them assured how well they fareH
Beside this Festus knows he holds me oneB2
Whom quiet and its charms arrest in vainF2
One scarce aware of all the joys I quitI
Too filled with airy hopes to make accountI
Of soft delights his own heart garners upW
Whereas behold how much our sense of allT
That's beauteous proves alike When Festus learnsA
That every common pleasure of the worldI
Affects me as himself that I have justI
As varied appetite for joy derivedI
From common things a stake in life in shortI
Like his a stake which rash pursuit of aimsA
That life affords not would as soon destroyI2
He may convince himself that this in viewI
I shall act well advised And last becauseA
Though heaven and earth and all things were at stakeK
Sweet Michal must not weep our parting eveJ2
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FestusA
True and the eve is deepening and we sitI
As little anxious to begin our talkK
As though to morrow I could hint of itI
As we paced arm in arm the cheerful townO
At sun dawn or could whisper it by fitsA
Trithemius busied with his class the whileZ
In that dim chamber where the noon streaks peerK2
Half frightened by the awful tomes aroundI
Or in some grassy lane unbosom allT
From even blush to midnight but to morrowL2
Have I full leave to tell my inmost mindI
We have been brothers and henceforth the worldI
Will rise between us all my freest mindI
'T is the last night dear AureoleM
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ParacelsusA
Oh say onM2
Devise some test of love some arduous featI
To be performed for you say on If nightI
Be spent the while the better Recall how oftI
My wondrous plans and dreams and hopes and fearsA
Have never wearied you oh no as IC
Recall and never vividly as nowV
Your true affection born when EinsiedelnV
And its green hills were all the world to usA
And still increasing to this night which endsA
My further stay at W rzburg Oh one dayN
You shall be very proud Say on dear friendsA
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FestusA
In truth 'T is for my proper peace indeedI
Rather than yours for vain all projects seemN2
To stay your course I said my latest hopeO2
Is fading even now A story tellsA
Of some far embassy despatched to winV
The favour of an eastern king and howV
The gifts they offered proved but dazzling dustI
Shed from the ore beds native to his climeN2
Just so the value of repose and loveC2
I meant should tempt you better far than IC
You seem to comprehend and yet desistI
No whit from projects where repose nor loveC2
Has partI
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ParacelsusA
Once more Alas As I foretoldI
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FestusA
A solitary briar the bank puts forthP2
To save our swan's nest floating out to seaA
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ParacelsusA
Dear Festus hear me What is it you wishQ2
That I should lay aside my heart's pursuitI
Abandon the sole ends for which I liveR2
Reject God's great commission and so dieC
You bid me listen for your true love's sakeK
Yet how has grown that love Even in a longK
And patient cherishing of the self same spiritI
It now would quell as though a mother hopedI
To stay the lusty manhood of the childI
Once weak upon her knees I was not bornV
Informed and fearless from the first but shrankK
From aught which marked me out apart from menV
I would have lived their life and died their deathS2
Lost in their ranks eluding destinyA
But you first guided me through doubt and fearK2
Taught me to know mankind and know myselfT2
And now that I am strong and full of hopeO2
That from my soul I can reject all aimsA
Save those your earnest words made plain to meA
Now that I touch the brink of my designV
When I would have a triumph in their eyesA
A glad cheer in their voices Michal weepsA
And Festus ponders gravelyA
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FestusA
When you deignV
To hear my purposeA
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ParacelsusA
Hear it I can sayA
Beforehand all this evening's conferenceA
'T is this way Michal that he uses firstI
Or he declares or I the leading pointsA
Of our best scheme of life what is man's endI
And what God's will no two faiths e'er agreedI
As his with mine Next each of us allowsA
Faith should be acted on as best we mayA
Accordingly I venture to submitI
My plan in lack of better for pursuingK
The path which God's will seems to authorizeA
Well he discerns much good in it avowsA
This motive worthy that hope plausibleB
A danger here to be avoided thereH
An oversight to be repaired in fineV
Our two minds go together all the goodI
Approved by him I gladly recognizeA
All he counts bad I thankfully discardI
And nought forbids my looking up at lastI
For some stray comfort in his cautious browV
When lo I learn that spite of all there lurksA
Some innate and inexplicable germN2
Of failure in my scheme so that at lastI
It all amounts to this the sovereign proofU2
That we devote ourselves to God is seenV
In living just as though no God there wereV2
A life which prompted by the sad and blindI
Folly of man Festus abhors the mostI
But which these tenets sanctify at onceA
Though to less subtle wits it seems the sameN2
Consider it how they mayA
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MichalB
Is it so FestusA
He speaks so calmly and kindly is it soA
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ParacelsusA
Reject those glorious visions of God's loveC2
And man's design laugh loud that God should sendI
Vast longings to direct us say how soonV
Power satiates these or lust or gold I knowA
The world's cry well and how to answer itI
But this ambiguous warfareH
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FestusA
Wearies soA
That you will grant no last leave to your friendI
To urge it for his sake not yours I wishQ2
To send my soul in good hopes after youI
Never to sorrow that uncertain wordsA
Erringly apprehended a new creedI
Ill understood begot rash trust in youI
Had share in your undoingK
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ParacelsusA
Choose your sideI
Hold or renounce but meanwhile blame me notI
Because I dare to act on your own viewsA
Nor shrink when they point onward nor espyA
A peril where they most ensure successA
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FestusA
Prove that to me but that Prove you abideI
Within their warrant nor presumptuous boastI
God's labour laid on you prove all you covetI
A mortal may expect and most of allT
Prove the strange course you now affect will leadI
To its attainment and I bid you speedI
Nay count the minutes till you venture forthP2
You smile but I had gathered from slow thoughtI
Much musing on the fortunes of my friendI
Matter I deemed could not be urged in vainV
But it all leaves me at my need in shredsA
And fragments I must venture what remainsA
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MichalB
Ask at once Festus wherefore he should scornV
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FestusA
Stay Michal Aureole I speak guardedlyA
And gravely knowing well whate'er your errorV2
This is no ill considered choice of yoursA
No sudden fancy of an ardent boyI2
Not from your own confiding words aloneV
Am I aware your passionate heart long sinceA
Gave birth to nourished and at length maturesA
This scheme I will not speak of EinsiedelnV
Where I was born your elder by some yearsA
Only to watch you fully from the firstI
In all beside our mutual tasks were fixedI
Even then 't was mine to have you in my viewI
As you had your own soul and those intentsA
Which filled it when to crown your dearest wishQ2
With a tumultuous heart you left with meA
Our childhood's home to join the favoured fewI
Whom here Trithemius condescends to teachW2
A portion of his lore and not one youthX2
Of those so favoured whom you now despiseA
Came earnest as you came resolved like youI
To grasp all and retain all and deserveY2
By patient toil a wide renown like hisA
Now this new ardour which supplants the oldI
I watched too 't was significant and strangeZ2
In one matched to his soul's content at lengthS
With rivals in the search for wisdom's prizeA
To see the sudden pause the total changeZ2
From contest the transition to reposeA
From pressing onward as his fellows pressedI
To a blank idleness yet most unlikeK
The dull stagnation of a soul contentI
Once foiled to leave betimes a thriveless questI
That careless bearing free from all pretenceA
Even of contempt for what it ceased to seekK
Smiling humility praising much yet waivingK
What it professed to praise though not so wellJ
Maintained but that rare outbreaks fierce and briefA3
Revealed the hidden scorn as quickly curbedI
That ostentatious show of past defeatI
That ready acquiescence in contemptI
I deemed no other than the letting goA
His shivered sword of one about to springK
Upon his foe's throat but it was not thusA
Not that way looked your brooding purpose thenV
For after signs disclosed what you confirmedI
That you prepared to task to the uttermostI
Your strength in furtherance of a certain aimN2
Which while it bore the name your rivals gaveB3
Their own most puny efforts was so vastI
In scope that it included their best flightsA
Combined them and desired to gain one prizeA
In place of many the secret of the worldI
Of man and man's true purpose path and fateI
That you not nursing as a mere vague dreamN2
This purpose with the sages of the pastI
Have struck upon a way to this if allT
You trust be true which following heart and soulM
You if a man may dare aspire to knowA
And that this aim shall differ from a hostI
Of aims alike in character and kindI
Mostly in this that in itself aloneV
Shall its reward be not an alien endI
Blending therewith no hope nor fear nor joyI2
Nor woe to elsewhere move you but this pureC3
Devotion to sustain you or betrayA
Thus you aspireE2
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ParacelsusA
You shall not state it thusA
I should not differ from the dreamy crewI
You speak of I profess no other shareH
In the selection of my lot than thisA
My ready answer to the will of GodI
Who summons me to be his organ AllT
Whose innate strength supports them shall succeedI
No better than the sagesA
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FestusA
Such the aim thenV
God sets before you and't is doubtless needI
That he appoint no less the way of praiseA
Than the desire to praise for though I holdI
With you the setting forth such praise to beA
The natural end and service of a manV
And hold such praise is best attained when manV
Attains the general welfare of his kindI
Yet this the end is not the instrumentI
Presume not to serve God apart from suchD3
Appointed channel as he wills shall gatherV2
Imperfect tributes for that sole obedienceA
Valued perchance He seeks not that his altarsA
Blaze careless how so that they do but blazeA
Suppose this then that God selected youI
To know heed well your answers for my faithE3
Shall meet implicitly what they affirmN2
I cannot think you dare annex to suchD3
Selection aught beyond a steadfast willF3
An intense hope nor let your gifts createI
Scorn or neglect of ordinary meansA
Conducive to success make destinyA
Dispense with man's endeavour Now dare you searchG3
Your inmost heart and candidly avowV
Whether you have not rather wild desireV2
For this distinction than securityA
Of its existence whether you discernV
The path to the fulfilment of your purposeA
Clear as that purpose and again that purposeA
Clear as your yearning to be singled outI
For its pursuer Dare you answer thisA
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ParacelsusA
after a pauseA
No I have nought to fear Who will may knowA
The secret'st workings of my soul What thoughA
It be so if indeed the strong desireV2
Eclipse the aim in me if splendour breakK
Upon the outset of my path aloneV
And duskest shade succeed What fairer sealH3
Shall I require to my authentic missionV
Than this fierce energy this instinct strivingK
Because its nature is to strive enticedI
By the security of no broad courseA
Without success forever in its eyesA
How know I else such glorious fate my ownV
But in the restless irresistible forceA
That works within me Is it for human willF3
To institute such impulses still lessA
To disregard their promptings What should IC
Do kept among you all your loves your caresA
Your life all to be mine Be sure that GodI
Ne'er dooms to waste the strength he deigns impartI
Ask the geier eagle why she stoops at onceA
Into the vast and unexplored abyssA
What full grown power informs her from the firstI
Why she not marvels strenuously beatingK
The silent boundless regions of the skyC
Be sure they sleep not whom God needs Nor fearK2
Their holding light his charge when every hourV2
That finds that charge delayed is a new deathS2
This for the faith in which I trust and henceA
I can abjure so well the idle artsA
These pedants strive to learn and teach Black ArtsA
Great Works the Secret and Sublime forsoothS2
Let others prize too intimate a tieC
Connects me with our God A sullen fiendI
To do my bidding fallen and hateful spritesA
To help me what are these at best besideI
God helping God directing everywhereH
So that the earth shall yield her secrets upW
And every object there be charged to strikeK
Teach gratify her master God appointsA
And I am young my Festus happy and freeA
I can devote myself I have a lifeI3
To give I singled out for this the OneV
Think think the wide East where all Wisdom sprungK
The bright South where she dwelt the hopeful NorthS2
All are passed o'er it lights on me 'T is timeN2
New hopes should animate the world new lightI
Should dawn from new revealings to a raceA
Weighed down so long forgotten so long thus shallJ3
The heaven reserved for us at last receiveJ2
Creatures whom no unwonted splendours blindI
But ardent to confront the unclouded blazeA
Whose beams not seldom blessed their pilgrimageK3
Not seldom glorified their life belowA
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FestusA
My words have their old fate and make faint standI
Against your glowing periods Call this truthS2
Why not pursue it in a fast retreatI
Some one of Learning's many palacesA
After approved example seeking thereH
Calm converse with the great dead soul to soulM
Who laid up treasure with the like intentI
So lift yourself into their airy placeA
And fill out full their unfulfilled careersA
Unravelling the knots their baffled skillF3
Pronounced inextricable true but leftI
Far less confused A fresh eye a fresh handI
Might do much at their vigour's waning pointI
Succeeding with new breathed new hearted forceA
As at old games the runner snatched the torchL3
From runner still this way success might beA
But you have coupled with your enterpriseA
An arbitrary self repugnant schemeN2
Of seeking it in strange and untried pathsA
What books are in the desert Writes the seaA
The secret of her yearning in vast cavesA
Where yours will fall the first of human feetI
Has wisdom sat there and recorded aughtI
You press to read Why turn aside from herV2
To visit where her vesture never glancedI
Now solitudes consigned to barrennessA
By God's decree which who shall dare impugnV
Now ruins where she paused but would not stayI
Old ravaged cities that renouncing herV2
She called an endless curse on so it cameN2
Or worst of all now men you visit menV
Ignoblest troops who never heard her voiceA
Or hate it men without one gift from RomeN2
Or Athens these shall Aureole's teachers beA
Rejecting past example practice preceptI
Aidless'mid these he thinks to stand aloneV
Thick like a glory round the StagiriteI
Your rivals throng the sages here stand youI
Whatever you may protest knowledge is notI
Paramount in your love or for her sakeK
You would collect all help from every sourceA
Rival assistant friend foe all would mergeM3
In the broad class of those who showed her hauntsA
And those who showed them notI
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ParacelsusA
What shall I sayA
Festus from childhood I have been possessedI
By a fire by a true fire or faint or fierceA
As from without some master so it seemedI
Repressed or urged its current this but illF3
Expresses what would I convey but ratherV2
I will believe an angel ruled me thusA
Than that my soul's own workings own high natureV2
So became manifest I knew not thenV
What whispered in the evening and spoke outI
At midnight If some mortal born too soonV
Were laid away in some great trance the agesA
Coming and going all the while till dawnedI
His true time's advent and could then recordI
The words they spoke who kept watch by his bedI
Then I might tell more of the breath so lightI
Upon my eyelids and the fingers lightI
Among my hair Youth is confused yet neverV2
So dull was I but when that spirit passedI
I turned to him scarce consciously as turnsA
A water snake when fairies cross his sleepN3
And having this within me and about meA
While Einsiedeln its mountains lakes and woodsA
Confined me what oppressive joy was mineV
When life grew plain and I first viewed the throngedI
The everlasting concourse of mankindI
Believe that ere I joined them ere I knewI
The purpose of the pageant or the placeA
Consigned me in its ranks while just awakeK
Wonder was freshest and delight most pureC3
'T was then that least supportable appearedI
A station with the brightest of the crowdI
A portion with the proudest of them allT
And from the tumult in my breast this onlyA
Could I collect that I must thenceforth dieI
Or elevate myself far far aboveC2
The gorgeous spectacle I seemed to longK
At once to trample on yet save mankindI
To make some unexampled sacrificeA
In their behalf to wring some wondrous goodI
From heaven or earth for them to perish winningK
Eternal weal in the act as who should dareH
Pluck out the angry thunder from its cloudI
That all its gathered flame discharged on himN2
No storm might threaten summer's azure sleepN3
Yet never to be mixed with men so muchD3
As to have part even in my own work shareH
In my own largess Once the feat achievedI
I would withdraw from their officious praiseA
Would gently put aside their profuse thanksA
Like some knight traversing a wildernessA
Who on his way may chance to free a tribeO3
Of desert people from their dragon foeA
When all the swarthy race press round to kissA
His feet and choose him for their king and yieldI
Their poor tents pitched among the sand hills forP3
His realm and he points smiling to his scarfQ3
Heavy with riveled gold his burgonetI
Gay set with twinkling stones and to the EastI
Where these must be displayedI
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FestusA
Good let us hearH2
No more about your nature which first shrankK
From all that marked you out apart from menV
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ParacelsusA
I touch on that these words but analyseA
The first mad impulse 't was as brief as fondI
For as I gazed again upon the showA
I soon distinguished here and there a shapeR3
Palm wreathed and radiant forehead and full eyeI
Well pleased was I their state should thus at onceA
Interpret my own thoughts Behold the clueI
To all I rashly said and what I pineV
To do these have accomplished we are peersA
They know and therefore rule I too will knowA
You were beside me Festus as you sayA
You saw me plunge in their pursuits whom fameN2
Is lavish to attest the lords of mindI
Not pausing to make sure the prize in viewI
Would satiate my cravings when obtainedI
But since they strove I strove Then came a slowA
And strangling failure We aspired alikeK
Yet not the meanest plodder Tritheim countsA
A marvel but was all sufficient strongK
Or staggered only at his own vast witsA
While I was restless nothing satisfiedI
Distrustful most perplexed I would slur overV2
That struggle suffice it that I loathed myselfT2
As weak compared with them yet felt somehowV
A mighty power was brooding taking shapeR3
Within me and this lasted till one nightI
When as I sat revolving it and moreP3
A still voice from without said Seest thou notI
Desponding child whence spring defeat and lossA
Even from thy strength Consider hast thou gazedI
Presumptuously on wisdom's countenanceA
No veil between and can thy faltering handsA
Unguided by the brain the sight absorbsA
Pursue their task as earnest blinkers doI
Whom radiance ne'er distracted Live their lifeI3
If thou wouldst share their fortune choose their eyesA
Unfed by splendour Let each task presentI
Its petty good to thee Waste not thy giftsA
In profitless waiting for the gods' descentI
But have some idol of thine own to dressA
With their array Know not for knowing's sakeK
But to become a star to men for everV2
Know for the gain it gets the praise it bringsA
The wonder it inspires the love it breedsA
Look one step onward and secure that stepS3
And I smiled as one never smiles but onceA
Then first discovering my own aim's extentI
Which sought to comprehend the works of GodI
And God himself and all God's intercourseA
With the human mind I understood no lessA
My fellows' studies whose true worth I sawA
But smiled not well aware who stood by meA
And softer came the voice There is a wayA
'T is hard for flesh to tread therein imbuedI
With frailty hopeless if indulgence firstI
Have ripened inborn germs of sin to strengthS2
Wilt thou adventure for my sake and man'sA
Apart from all reward And last it breathedI
Be happy my good soldier I am by theeA
Be sure even to the end I answered notI
Knowing him As he spoke I was enduedI
With comprehension and a steadfast willF3
And when he ceased my brow was sealed his ownV
If there took place no special change in meA
How comes it all things wore a different hueI
Thenceforward pregnant with vast consequenceA
Teeming with grand result loaded with fateI
So that when quailing at the mighty rangeZ2
Of secret truths which yearn for birth I hasteI
To contemplate undazzled some one truthS2
Its bearings and effects alone at onceA
What was a speck expands into a starD2
Asking a life to pass exploring thusA
Till I near craze I go to prove my soulM
I see my way as birds their trackless wayA
I shall arrive what time what circuit firstI
I ask not but unless God send his hailL
Or blinding fireballs sleet or stifling snowA
In some time his good time I shall arriveR2
He guides me and the bird In his good timeN2
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MichalB
Vex him no further Festus it is soA
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FestusA
Just thus you help me ever This would holdI
Were it the trackless air and not a pathS2
Inviting you distinct with footprints yetI
Of many a mighty marcher gone that wayA
You may have purer views than theirs perhapsA
But they were famous in their day the proofsA
Remain At least accept the light they lendI
-
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ParacelsusA
Their light the sum of all is briefly thisA
They laboured and grew famous and the fruitsA
Are best seen in a dark and groaning earthS2
Given over to a blind and endless strifeI3
With evils what of all their lore abatesA
No I reject and spurn them utterlyA
And all they teach Shall I still sit besideI
Their dry wells with a white lip and filmed eyeI
While in the distance heaven is blue aboveC2
Mountains where sleep the unsunned tarnsA
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FestusA
And yetI
As strong delusions have prevailed ere nowV
Men have set out as gallantly to seekK
Their ruin I have heard of such yourselfT2
Avow all hitherto have failed and fallenV
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MichalB
Nay Festus when but as the pilgrims faintI
Through the drear way do you expect to seeA
Their city dawn amid the clouds afarD2
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ParacelsusA
Ay sounds it not like some old well known taleL
For me I estimate their works and themN2
So rightly that at times I almost dreamN2
I too have spent a life the sages' wayA
And tread once more familiar paths PerchanceA
I perished in an arrogant self relianceA
Ages ago and in that act a prayerH
For one more chance went up so earnest soA
Instinct with better light let in by deathS2
That life was blotted out not so completelyA
But scattered wrecks enough of it remainV
Dim memories as now when once more seemsA
The goal in sight again All which indeedI
Is foolish and only means the flesh I wearH
The earth I tread are not more clear to meA
Than my belief explained to you or noA
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FestusA
And who am I to challenge and disputeI
That clear belief I will divest all fearK2
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MichalB
Then Aureole is God's commissary he shallJ3
Be great and grand and all for usA
-
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ParacelsusA
No sweetI
Not great and grand If I can serve mankindI
'T is well but there our intercourse must endI
I never will be served by those I serveY2
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FestusA
Look well to this here is a plague spot hereH2
Disguise it how you may 'T is true you utterV2
This scorn while by our side and loving usA
'T is but a spot as yet but it will breakK
Into a hideous blotch if overlookedI
How can that course be safe which from the firstI
Produces carelessness to human loveC2
It seems you have abjured the helps which menV
Who overpass their kind as you would doI
Have humbly sought I dare not thoroughly probeT3
This matter lest I learn too much Let beA
That popular praise would little instigateI
Your efforts nor particular approvalB
Reward you put reward aside aloneV
You shall go forth upon your arduous taskK
None shall assist you none partake your toilU3
None share your triumph still you must retainV
Some one to cast your glory on to shareH
Your rapture with Were I elect like youI
I would encircle me with love and raiseA
A rampart of my fellows it should seemN2
Impossible for me to fail so watchedI
By gentle friends who made my cause their ownV
They should ward off fate's envy the great giftI
Extravagant when claimed by me aloneV
Being so a gift to them as well as meA
If danger daunted me or ease seducedI
How calmly their sad eyes should gaze reproachV3
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MichalB
O Aureole can I sing when all aloneV
Without first calling in my fancy bothS2
To listen by my side even I And youI
Do you not feel this Say that you feel thisA
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ParacelsusA
I feel't is pleasant that my aims at lengthS2
Allowed their weight should be supposed to needI
A further strengthening in these goodly helpsA
My course allures for its own sake its soleM
Intrinsic worth and ne'er shall boat of mineV
Adventure forth for gold and apes at onceA
Your sages say if human therefore weakK
If weak more need to give myself entireV2
To my pursuit and by its side all elseA
No matter I deny myself but littleB
In waiving all assistance save its ownV
Would there were some real sacrifice to makeK
Your friends the sages threw their joys awayA
While I must be content with keeping mineV
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FestusA
But do not cut yourself from human wealB
You cannot thrive a man that dares affectI
To spend his life in service to his kindI
For no reward of theirs unbound to themN2
By any tie nor do so Aureole NoA
There are strange punishments for such Give upW
Although no visible good flow thence some partI
Of the glory to another hiding thusA
Even from yourself that all is for yourselfT2
Say say almost to God I have done allB
For her not for myselfT2
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ParacelsusA
And who but latelyB
Was to rejoice in my success like youI
Whom should I love but both of youI
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FestusA
I know notI
But know this you that't is no will of mineV
You should abjure the lofty claims you makeK
And this the cause I can no longer seekK
To overlook the truth that there would beB
A monstrous spectacle upon the earthS2
Beneath the pleasant sun among the treesA
A being knowing not what love is Hear meB
You are endowed with faculties which bearH
Annexed to them as't were a dispensationV
To summon meaner spirits to do their willB
And gather round them at their need inspiringK
Such with a love themselves can never feelB
Passionless'mid their passionate votariesA
I know not if you joy in this or noA
Or ever dream that common men can liveR2
On objects you prize lightly but which makeK
Their heart's sole treasure the affections seemN2
Beauteous at most to you which we must tasteI
Or die and this strange quality accordsA
I know not how with you sits well uponV
That luminous brow though in another it scowlsA
An eating brand a shame I dare not judge youI
The rules of right and wrong thus set asideI
There's no alternative I own you oneV
Of higher order under other lawsA
Than bind us therefore curb not one bold glanceA
'T is best aspire Once mingled with us allB
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MichalB
Stay with us Aureole cast those hopes awayA
And stay with us An angel warns me tooI
Man should be humble you are very proudI
And God dethroned has doleful plagues for suchD3
Warns me to have in dread no quick repulseA
No slow defeat but a complete successA
You will find all you seek and perish soA
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ParacelsusA
after a pauseA
Are these the barren firstfruits of my questI
Is love like this the natural lot of allB
How many years of pain might one such hourV2
O'erbalance Dearest Michal dearest FestusA
What shall I say if not that I desireV2
To justify your love and will dear friendsA
In swerving nothing from my first resolvesA
See the great moon and ere the mottled owlsA
Were wide awake I was to go It seemsA
You acquiesce at last in all save thisA
If I am like to compass what I seekK
By the untried career I choose and thenV
If that career making but small accountI
Of much of life's delight will yet retainV
Sufficient to sustain my soul for thusA
I understand these fond fears just expressedI
And first the lore you praise and I neglectI
The labours and the precepts of old timeN2
I have not lightly disesteemed But friendsA
Truth is within ourselves it takes no riseA
From outward things whate'er you may believeJ2
There is an inmost centre in us allB
Where truth abides in fulness and aroundI
Wall upon wall the gross flesh hems it inV
This perfect clear perception which is truthS2
A baffling and perverting carnal meshW3
Binds it and makes all error and to knowA
Rather consists in opening out a wayA
Whence the imprisoned splendour may escapeR3
Than in effecting entry for a lightI
Supposed to be without Watch narrowlyB
The demonstration of a truth its birthS2
And you trace back the effluence to its springK
And source within us where broods radiance vastI
To be elicited ray by ray as chanceA
Shall favour chance for hitherto your sageX3
Even as he knows not how those beams are bornV
As little knows he what unlocks their fountI
And men have oft grown old among their booksA
To die case hardened in their ignoranceA
Whose careless youth had promised what long yearsA
Of unremitted labour ne'er performedI
While contrary it has chanced some idle dayI
To autumn loiterers just as fancy freeB
As the midges in the sun gives birth at lastI
To truth produced mysteriously as capeR3
Of cloud grown out of the invisible airH
Hence may not truth be lodged alike in allB
The lowest as the highest some slight filmN2
The interposing bar which binds a soulB
And makes the idiot just as makes the sageX3
Some film removed the happy outlet whenceA
Truth issues proudly See this soul of oursA
How it strives weakly in the child is loosedI
In manhood clogged by sickness back compelledI
By age and waste set free at last by deathS2
Why is it flesh enthrals it or enthronesA
What is this flesh we have to penetrateI
Oh not alone when life flows still do truthS2
And power emerge but also when strange chanceA
Ruffles its current in unused conjunctureH
When sickness breaks the body hunger watchingK
Excess or languor oftenest death's approachV3
Peril deep joy or woe One man shall crawlB
Through life surrounded with all stirring thingsA
Unmoved and he goes mad and from the wreckK
Of what he was by his wild talk aloneV
You first collect how great a spirit he hidI
Therefore set free the soul alike in allB
Discovering the true laws by which the fleshW3
Accloys the spirit We may not be doomedI
To cope with seraphs but at least the restI
Shall cope with us Make no more giants GodI
But elevate the race at once We askK
To put forth just our strength our human strengthS2
All starting fairly all equipped alikeK
Gifted alike all eagle eyed true heartedI
See if we cannot beat thine angels yetI
Such is my task I go to gather thisA
The sacred knowledge here and there dispersedI
About the world long lost or never foundI
And why should I be sad or lorn of hopeO2
Why ever make man's good distinct from God'sA
Or finding they are one why dare mistrustI
Who shall succeed if not one pledged like meB
Mine is no mad attempt to build a worldI
Apart from his like those who set themselvesA
To find the nature of the spirit they boreH
And taught betimes that all their gorgeous dreamsA
Were only born to vanish in this lifeI3
Refused to fit them to its narrow sphereH
But chose to figure forth another worldI
And other frames meet for their vast desiresA
And all a dream Thus was life scorned but lifeI3
Shall yet be crowned twine amaranth I am priestI
And all for yielding with a lively spiritI
A poor existence parting with a youthS2
Like those who squander every energyB
Convertible to good on painted toysA
Breath bubbles gilded dust And though I spurnV
All adventitious aims from empty praiseA
To love's award yet whoso deems such helpsA
Important and concerns himself for meB
May know even these will follow with the restI
As in the steady rolling Mayne asleepN3
Yonder is mixed its mass of schistous oreH
My own affections laid to rest awhileB
Will waken purified subdued aloneV
By all I have achieved Till then till thenV
Ah the time wiling loitering of a pageX3
Through bower and over lawn till eve shall bringK
The stately lady's presence whom he lovesA
The broken sleep of the fisher whose rough coatI
Enwraps the queenly pearl these are faint typesA
See see they look on me I triumph nowV
But one thing Festus Michal I have toldI
All I shall e'er disclose to mortal sayA
Do you believe I shall accomplish thisA
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FestusA
I do believeJ2
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MichalB
I ever did believeJ2
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ParacelsusA
Those words shall never fade from out my brainV
This earnest of the end shall never fadeI
Are there not Festus are there not dear MichalB
Two points in the adventure of the diverH
One when a beggar he prepares to plungeY3
One when a prince he rises with his pearlB
Festus I plungeY3
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FestusA
We wait you when you riseA

Robert Browning



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