The hands must touch and handle many things, The eyes long waste their glances all in vain; The feet course still in idle, mazy rings, E'er man himself, the lost, shall back regain; The hand that ever moves, the eyes that see, While day holds out his shining lamp on high, And strait as flies the honey-seeking bee, Direct the feet to unseen flowers they spy, These, when they come, the man revealed from heaven, Shall labor all the day in quiet rest, And find at eve the covert duly given, Where with the bird they find sweet sleep and rest; That shall their wasted strength to health restore, And bid them seek the morn the hills and fields once more. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE IMPOSSIBLE INDISPENSIBILITY OF THE ARS POETICA by HAYDEN CARRUTH SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: AMOS SIBLEY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS HASTE NOT! REST NOT! by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE I, TOO by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES CALYPSO WATCHING THE OCEAN by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON MY LOVE by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE MAHOGANY TREE by WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY |