DESPONDENCY[8].
Reading edition
DESPONDENCY[8].
I.
It is a weary hill Of moving sand that still Shifts, struggle as we will, Beneath our tread: Of those who went before, And tracked the desert o’er, The footmarks are no more, But gone and fled.
II.
We stray to either side, We wander far and wide, We fall to sleep and slide Far down again: As thro’ the sand we wade, We do not seek to aid Our fellows, but upbraid Each others’ pain.
III.
I gaze on that bright band Who on the summit stand, To order and command, Like stars on high: Yet with despairing pace My way I could retrace, Or on this desert place Sink down and die.
IV.
As we who toil and weep, And with our weeping steep The path o’er which we creep, They had not striven; They must have taken flight To that serenest height, And won it by the might Of wings from heaven.
V.
Alack! I have no wing, My spirit lacks that spring, And Nature will not bring Her help to me. From her I have no aid, But light-enwoven shade, And stream and star upbraid Our misery.