Canto I.]
Orion.
93
To ask for sympathy and to need help;
Stooping to pluck up pity from all soils—
Bitterest of roots that round pride's temple grow—
Losing self-centred power, and in its place
Pressed with humiliation almost down:
Whose soul had in one passion been absorbed,
Which, though illimitable in itself,
Profound and primal, yet had wrapped him round
Beyond advance, or further use of hand,
Purpose and service to the needy earth:
Whose passion, being less than his true scope,
Had lowered his life and quelled aspiring dreams,
But that it led to blindness and distress,
Self-pride's abasement, more extensive truth,
A higher consciousness and efforts new.
Stooping to pluck up pity from all soils—
Bitterest of roots that round pride's temple grow—
Losing self-centred power, and in its place
Pressed with humiliation almost down:
Whose soul had in one passion been absorbed,
Which, though illimitable in itself,
Profound and primal, yet had wrapped him round
Beyond advance, or further use of hand,
Purpose and service to the needy earth:
Whose passion, being less than his true scope,
Had lowered his life and quelled aspiring dreams,
But that it led to blindness and distress,
Self-pride's abasement, more extensive truth,
A higher consciousness and efforts new.
In that dark hour when anguished he awoke,
Orion from the sea-shore made his way,
Feeling from cliff to cliff, from tree to tree,
Guided by knowledge of the varied tracks
Of land,—the rocks, the mounds of fern, the grass,
That 'neath his feet made known each spot he passed,—
Hill, vale and woodland; till he reached the caves,
Once his rude happy dwelling. All was silent.
Orion from the sea-shore made his way,
Feeling from cliff to cliff, from tree to tree,
Guided by knowledge of the varied tracks
Of land,—the rocks, the mounds of fern, the grass,
That 'neath his feet made known each spot he passed,—
Hill, vale and woodland; till he reached the caves,
Once his rude happy dwelling. All was silent.
