Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LINES, by ELIZABETH J. EAMES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LINES, by                    
First Line: Of making many books there is no end'
Last Line: That all the days of man's short life are vanity!
Subject(s): Books; Wisdom; Reading


"OF making many books there is no end,"
Said the wise monarch of the olden time;
Yet, through all ages, and in every clime
Doth the pale seeker o'er his studies bend
The intellectual Numen to obey,
Eager and anxious still. Still doth he toil
(Making the night familiar as the day,)
To find the clew to loose the ravell'd coil --
To pierce the depth of things that hidden lie
The oil of life consumeth! this he knoweth --
Yet with a feverish brow and streaming eye,
He seeks to find; -- and patiently bestoweth
His midnight labourings in Wisdom's mine,
To win for Earth the gems that midst its darkness shine
"Much study is a weariness." The sage
Who gave his mind, to seek and search until
He knew all Wisdom, found that on the page
Knowledge and grief were vow'd companions still:
And so the students of a later day
Sit down among the records of old time
To hold high commune with the thoughts sublime
Of minds long gone; so they too pass away,
And leave us what? their course, to toil -- reflect --
To feel the thorn pierce through our gather'd flowers --
Still midst the leaves the earth-worm to detect.
And this is Knowledge; -- Wisdom is not ours.
Oh! well the Preacher bids his son admonish'd be,
That all the days of man's short life are Vanity!





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