Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, UTTERANCE, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

UTTERANCE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: But what avail inadequate words to reach
Last Line: Of goodness dropped in fallow-grounds of need.
Subject(s): Religion; Truth; Theology


BUT what avail inadequate words to reach
The innermost of Truth? Who shall essay,
Blinded and weak, to point and lead the way,
Or solve the mystery in familiar speech?
Yet, if it be that something not thy own,
Some shadow of the Thought to which our schemes,
Creeds, cult, and ritual are at best but dreams,
Is even to thy unworthiness made known,
Thou mayst not hide what yet thou shouldst not dare
To utter lightly, lest on lips of thine
The real seem false, the beauty undivine.
So, weighing duty in the scale of prayer,
Give what seems given thee. It may prove a seed
Of goodness dropped in fallow-grounds of need.





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