QUE SAIS-JE?

If I could answer that sob of the brave little heart,

If I could answer that silence I suddenly fear,

If I could give him truth that would set this apart

From creeping question, my dear,

There would be ground for our feet, sky for our eyes,

At least, at worst. All I can whisper is dreams

And faith I hold, being doubtful of all things “wise”

And all the outrage that seems.

We are your boys to the end, that is all I know.

I the stronger as yet, but knowing no more

For all my years than I guessed at years ago

And searched through weary lore.

I thought they knew who were older and wiser than I.

I saw them confident, grave, with their answers swift.

Till I stood in turn at the edge of earth and sky

And saw the planets adrift,

And felt my heart struggling and striving for rest

And my baffled mind groping and yearning for peace

In some great answer or on some infinite breast

Of last complete release.

And now I turn his mind to fanciful things

And grip him close and hoarsely murmur my love

And pray away from him all this pain that clings

To this mind I am weary of.

Oh, I will teach him as best a man can teach

And strive to find him all knowledge of you I hold

And make you near to him even when out of reach

Of my treacherous heart and cold.

For though I cannot see there is more to be seen,

And what I cannot know is in presciences,

And all you are is as it has ever been

Between my heart and his.