1
AWAKE
! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has
flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And
Lo ! the Hunter of the East has caught
The
Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.
11
Here
with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A
Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou
Beside
me singing in the Wilderness -
And
Wilderness is Paradise enow.
27
Myself
when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor
and Saint, and heard great Argument
About
it and about: but evermore
Came
out by the same Door as in I went.
49
'Tis
all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days
Where
Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:
Hither
and thither moves, and mates, and slays,
And
one by one back in the Closet lays.
50
The
Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes,
But
Right or Left as strikes the Player goes;
And
He that toss'd Thee down into the Field,
He
knows about it all - HE knows - HE knows !
51
The
Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves
on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall
lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor
all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
60
And,
strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot
Some
could articulate, while others not:
And
suddenly one more impatient cried-
Who
is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot ?
73
Ah
Love ! could thou and I with Fate conspire
To
grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Would
not we shatter it to bits - and then
Re-mould
it nearer to the Heart's Desire !
