No More Learning

Then suddenly there was a great light--
"Let me into the darkness again. "



XLV

Tradition, thou art for suckling children,
Thou art the enlivening milk for babes;
But no meat for men is in thee.
Then--
But, alas, we all are babes.



XLVI

Many red devils ran from my heart
And out upon the page,
They were so tiny
The pen could mash them.
And many struggled in the ink.
It was strange
To write in this red muck
Of things from my heart.



XLVII

"Think as I think," said a man,
"Or you are abominably wicked;
"You are a toad. "

And after I had thought of it,
I said, "I will, then, be a toad. "



XLVIII

Once there was a man,--
Oh, so wise!
In all drink
He detected the bitter,
And in all touch
He found the sting.
At last he cried thus:
"There is nothing,--
"No life,
"No joy,
"No pain,--
"There is nothing save opinion,
"And opinion be damned. "



XLIX

I stood musing in a black world,
Not knowing where to direct my feet.
And I saw the quick stream of men
Pouring ceaselessly,
Filled with eager faces,
A torrent of desire.
I called to them,
"Where do you go? What do you see?
"
A thousand voices called to me.
A thousand fingers pointed.
"Look! Look! There! "

I know not of it.
But, lo! in the far sky shone a radiance
Ineffable, divine,--
A vision painted upon a pall;
And sometimes it was,
And sometimes it was not.
I hesitated.
Then from the stream
Came roaring voices,
Impatient:
"Look! Look! There! "

So again I saw,
And leaped, unhesitant,
And struggled and fumed
With outspread clutching fingers.
The hard hills tore my flesh;
The ways bit my feet.
At last I looked again.
No radiance in the far sky,
Ineffable, divine;
No vision painted upon a pall;
And always my eyes ached for the light.