Ranolf and Amohia
IX
IX.
Well then—for this time—Ranolf has escaped
The threatened doom, the shattering blow that might
By that Soul-Sculptor's hammer have been dealt.
Perhaps—who knows?—there was no need to smite:
Perhaps the marble could, with blow more slight
Or shadow of that heavy one, be shaped;
For he was of a nature that delight
Could sooner than despair, refine and melt.
Yet—never doubt it—Life and Time will teach
Him too what they enforce on all and each;
That for all Souls, however richly dowered
With amplest gifts by fate or fortune showered,
Something, where to the full they seem possest,
Will surely seem deficient in the best;
Or those that seem complete, will flit or fade
Long ere the thirst they cause can be allayed;
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As if their only end, undoubted, clear,
Was to make one, old, world-wide Truth appear—
Man ne'er shall find full satisfaction here;
To teach him—bound upon this earthly ball,
The power and practice to renounce them all.
Yes 1 doubt it not; he too in time will glean
A glimpse so far into the mighty Plan,
Into the working of this strange Machine
The Universe; and what mysterious ways
The Wonder-worker takes to solve
The problem he has set himself; to make
His glorious World in one rich round revolve
Of beauty and attractiveness; yet wean
By Good disguised as Evil—helpless Man
Her nursling, from her lovely breast
And bid him from the sleep awake
Wherein contented else he would for ever rest.