Three steps there are our human life must climb. The first is Force. The savage struggled to it from the slime And still it is our last, ashamed recourse. Above that jagged stretch of red-veined stone Is marble Law, Carven with long endeavor, monotone Of patient hammers, not yet free from flaw. Three steps there are our human life must climb. The last is Love, Wrought from such starry element sublime As touches the White Rose and Mystic Dove. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE GOAT PATHS by JAMES STEPHENS VENICE by JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS THE TROUBADOUR by HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS A 'FIRST IMPRESSION': TOKYO by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE WARRIOR MAID by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH WHEN HE RETURNS by BEATRICE M. CHACE |