Because we have enjoyed the "pure serene" Of Plato's discourse or the Attic scene— Which you have not—because our hearts still stir To the "long roll of the hexameter," Are we for this to be exposed to mock, As stocked in verses, but unversed in stock? Who, pray, are you that you should thus dictate, And judge of culture by the discount rate? "A business man," we hear your blatant cry, "What I pronounce, the law must ratify." You and your fellows in the filthy mart, Dare to impose on morals, statecraft, art? Except wherein your business has to do, What value has your "business point of view"? Go, learn that lucre is the means, not end, Not life's sole asset, only dividend; And when at night your roll-top desk you clear And from the telephone detach your ear, Look upward, outward, round you, if you can— Machine at work, but sometimes too, a man. Thus each contending; neither wholly true. Ideal truth would reconcile the two. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SHADOWS by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR. CAPITAL SQUARE by PATRICK JOHN MCALISTER ANDERSON THE PHOENIX REBORN FROM ITS ASHES by LOUIS ARAGON LILIES: 28. NOW by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) FRAGMENTS INTENDED FOR DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: SORROW by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES THE FISHERMAN by GAMALIEL BRADFORD IN SOME FAR DISTANT TIME by CATHERINE BRADSHAW BRITANNIA'S PASTORALS: BOOK 1. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO THE READER by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) |