Delight and Danger hand in hand
1
For ever dance with dizzy feet,
Old Safety ever hugs the land,
His only care to sleep and eat.
To little gods that rule the mart
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He pays his dues and bows his knee,
But gods that bless and break the heart—
He scarcely knows that such gods be.
What though with glory and with awe
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Man's little lot be magnified,
He keeps the letter of the law,
His skin is safe, whate'er betide.
For him no rainbow of romance,
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No leap into the arms of joy,
No dazzling partnership with chance,
No Helen, and no burning Troy.
The hallowed dream, the flaming bliss,
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That fills the souls of those who dare,
Though on the edge of the abyss,
To love—and fall they know not where.
The wildness that alone is wise,
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That swoops and takes, and asks no leave
Of gods or men—all for the eyes
More lovely far than morn or eve.
All glories of the lonely deed
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Men do for dreams, and, dreaming, die;
Heroes that for a country bleed,
Or Freedom—like a starry sky.
All souls that fling themselves on fire,
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Or on the gleaming lances run,
Martyrs of some divine desire
For others sought, for others won.
Yea! not as these is he who hides
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And hoards his being, safe and small,
Far from the elemental tides;
And, living so lives not at all.
Dust unto dust! such dust as he
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Insults the procreative sod,
That, sandy desert though it be,
Somewhere with palms gives thanks to God.
This dust shall never flame or flower,
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Nor answer to the kindly spring,
Nor any resurrecting power
Breathe life into this lifeless thing.
Safe lived he—safe, being dead, he lies,
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Forgotten of life for evermore,
One with the dead who do not rise,
The souls God needs not any more.