Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SPIRIT, by GEORGE SANTAYANA


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SPIRIT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: To live unseen and yet behold the earth
Last Line: I shed the flesh awhile, becoming mind.
Subject(s): Spirituality


To live unseen and yet behold the earth
Put on her lovely vesture in the May;
In sun and shadow spin her wonted way,
Dance and not question what the dance is worth;
From slaughter turn to thrift and lust and mirth,
From words to words, till all fools have their say,
To be the spirit dwelling in her clay,
The light that all her travail brings to birth --

The sophists stop me, crying: "That were God;
So are his gifts and attributes defined."
Ah, let him wind his tangle, and unwind!
I know but this, that daily as I plod
Amid the ruined labours of mankind,
I shed the flesh awhile, becoming mind.





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