—I'd like to live; but truly The Ideal is too loose. —Besides being unruly, The word makes you a goose. —All may be disputed; Books to books death-giving! —Absolutes are confuted Where the truth consists in living. —And if I lower my banner And to the Void succumb? —The Infinite, in grand manner, Will suggest: "Oh, don't be dumb!" —The tackles of the Possible whinny At the Inconceivable, though! —One degree, and there are so many From dawn to twilight-glow. —Is being actual, at least, Being fit to do something? —It follows, till the rose has ceased Growing flowers for fragrance, thorns for sting. —Your unusual way of letting me gather The vicious circle in which all is hewn? —Vicious, everything! —Thanks; I'd rather Go ajourneying with the moon. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FAT LADY by HAYDEN CARRUTH SHADOW-CASTING by JAMES GALVIN IN LOVE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO OUR MOCKING-BIRD; DIED OF A CAT, MAY, 1878 by SIDNEY LANIER TO HELEN KELLER - HUMANITARIAN, SOCIAL DEMOCRAT, GREAT SOUL by EDWIN MARKHAM RAHEL TO VARNHAGEN by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |