Life and Existence

Behold the child, by Nature’s kindly law

Created half to rise, and half to fall;

And, spite of Pride, in erring Reason’s spite,

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;

All are but parts of one stupendous whole,

Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutored mind

Some praise at morning what they blame at night;

As some to church repair,

Old politicians chew on wisdom past,

Nature, and Nature’s laws lay hid in night.

Search then the Ruling Passion: There, alone,

’Tis education forms the common mind,

The ruling passion, be it what it will,

The Muse but served to ease some friend, not wife,

As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame,

How happy is the blameless Vestal’s lot!

Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restored;

Vital spark of heav’nly flame!

The fever called ‘Living’

The fever called ‘Living’

All that we see or seem

I was a child and she was a child,

Behold! human beings living in a underground den … Like ourselves … they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave.

And so with the objects of knowledge: these derive from the Good not only their power of being known, but their very being and reality; and Goodness is not the same thing as being, but even beyond being, surpassing it in dignity and power.