THEORETIKOS.

He dwelt unblinded with eternal truth,

Through long communion perfected, not once

Did he misdeem the prelude for the song,

And looking onward, to his ample view

That long to-come when he should be no more

Outweighed the moment of his passing here.

And he was happy, and his peace was full,

Having outlived the struggle — not as those

Who take the world on faith, and rest content

With the old verdicts, question, wonder not,

But feeling trusting loving are at peace.

He sought and found one little germ of truth,

Made pure his spirit of all chance and change,

Held fast on things abiding, learned to stand

On ever loftier summits-till at last

TI is brow grew starry and his searching eyes

Blue with the mirrored distance, and he heard

The everlasting music, Time and space

Were part with every heart-beat, and almost

God seemed to whisper in his listening ear.

What need for him of all your wonder world?

He made the wonder visible — enough

This little handful of the common clay

A seed to sow therein, and then to watch

The hidden forces quicken into life,

Till leaf by leaf some flower-star unfolds,

One flower of all the flowers, because the sun

Is in the skies, one sun of all the suns.

Search but the structure of one daisy’ s heart

Your lore has no such miracle as this!—

And look at all the infinite device,

The texture of the leaves of all the trees —

Is there not marvel here enough? And yet

Ye crave new signs and wonders to convince

And wander lost upon your devious ways.

Ye will but gaze upon a part, and grow

In little wisdom overwise, therefore

Your partial grasp is barren to conceive

The thought Infinity, Time wilders yet

Because ye measure with your finite gauge,

And Motion maddens through your own unrest.

He let the world go gladly, hand in hand

He walked with Reason, till thought strained away

And God grew nearer,— so he built his mind

A bridge to span from sun to sun of all

The starry systems;— like a faint far dream

The changing pageant of men’ s lives unrolled,

And he stood by serenely,— but with him

The calm was struggle in a lordlier way,

Absorbed and dwelling with eternal truth,

Whose star o’ ershone him; till it seemed that life

And death were one, and from the throbbing brow

The craving died away,— and now he rests

With that fair choir from many times whose souls

Have earned the right of knowledge after death.