Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SATISFACTION, by JOHN FREEMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SATISFACTION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If there be permanence in this dizzy being
Last Line: The satisfaction of sight.
Subject(s): Life


IF there be permanence in this dizzy being,
If in this whirl a centre
Calm and fixed, where sight is truly seeing,
And thought's the last adventure;
If in the desperate attack of man
On man, and jealous strife
To have and hold more than another can
Of the coarse prize of life;
If there be aught that's precious more than seems
To the throng's greedy glance,
It is not something seen only in dreams,
Nor in the senses' trance.
It is in watching the green seethe of the grass
Foam up the thighs of Spring,
Seeing from lost seed flowers come to pass,
Blossoms to rocked boughs cling;
From the bare stone the coming harvest rise
Like a multitude released;
From a naked nest the lifting lark surprise
The gray, nested East.
It is in watching the youth of the world soar
Into astonished light,
While prophets quake and stare at shadows hoar,
And lingered stars of night.
If there be key and purpose to this being
With guilt and guile perplexed,
It is in eyes that see not with our seeing,
Hearts not by grieving vexed.
Not in time present but in time to come
Is all hope, all delight—
In the reincarnate life of field, wood, home,
The satisfaction of sight.





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