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ETIENNE DE LA BOECE, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I serve you not, if you I follow
Last Line: That were freedom's whitest chart.
Subject(s): Etienne De La Boetie (1530-1563)


I serve you not, if you I follow,
Shadowlike, o'er hill and hollow;
And bend my fancy to your leading,
All too nimble for my treading.
When the pilgrimage is done,
And we've the landscape overrun,
I am bitter, vacant, thwarted,
And your heart is unsupported.
Vainly valiant, you have missed
The manhood that should yours resist, --
Its complement; but if I could,
In severe or cordial mood,
Lead you rightly to my altar,
Where the wisest Muses falter,
And worship that world-warming spark
Which dazzles me in midnight dark,
Equalizing small and large,
While the soul it doth surcharge,
That the poor is wealthy grown,
And the hermit never alone, --
The traveller and the road seem one
With the errand to be done, --
That were a man's and lover's part,
That were Freedom's whitest chart.





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