Resolve

Bound in misfortune’s bands, Blindfold and brought to nought, I would reach out my hands And touch eternal thought.

I cannot choose but try Behind these prison bars To measure earth and sky And know the whole of stars;

And what I rede I write, Vain visions as they rise, Vain visions of the night, Unworthy others’ eyes.

I said, ‘Tho’ dungeon’d here In these deep dens of night, My soul shall persevere To seek supernal light;

Untainted Truth to know From that fair face of Lies Whose heav’nly features glow Like Truth’s, save in the eyes;

Till, after all these years, The wisdom come unsought To see the stars as spheres And sound the bounds of thought.’

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