Unum est Necessarium
Some dewy star-beam to their parch'd contact;
But, even as dew or raindrop, when they fall
Upon the insatiate earth, are changed in the act.
Cease to be water, and no more at all
Are either dew or rain—but only mire!—
So the benignant rays of Heaven would pall
And faint into a maze of misty fire
At touch of these concentred spirits aye
Locked in their long ungenerous desire.
Thus, shrouded each alone, nor far nor nigh
Their shine was shed, nor shared by any mate;
Secret and still each burned, a separate I,
Lost in no general glory, penetrate
With no sweet mutual marvels of the sky,
And bitter isolation was their state.
"Unjust Eternity!" I mourned aghast.
"O dread, unchanging, predetermined Fate,
Shall evermore the Future ape the Past?"
"Thou seest nor Past nor Future," cried the Voice.
"Such is the life thou leadest, such thou wast,
Art, shalt be ; such thy bent is and thy choice,
O centre-seeking Soul that cannot love.
Nor radiate, nor relinquish, nor rejoice!
Know, they are wise who squander: Look above!"
And lo! a beam of their transcendent bliss
Who, ever giving, ever losing, move
In self-abandoned bounty through the abyss,
Pierced to my soul with so divine a dart,
I swooned with pain, I wakened to a kiss :
"Blessed," I sang, " are ye the large in heart
Irradiate with the light in alien eyes ;
For ye have chosen indeed the brighter part.
And where ye circle is our Paradise."
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