Page:Ambarvalia - Clough (1849).djvu/50

 And whether indeed they be or be not, Try not, test not, feel not, see not: 'Tis walk and dance, sit down and rise By leading, opening ne'er your eyes; Stunt sturdy limbs that Nature gave, And be drawn in a Bath chair along to the grave.

'Tis the stern and prompt suppressing, As an obvious deadly sin, All the questing and the guessing Of the soul's own soul within: 'Tis the coward acquiescence In a destiny's behest, To a shade by terror made, Sacrificing, aye, the essence Of all that 's truest, noblest, best: 'Tis the blind non-recognition Either of goodness, truth, or beauty, Except by precept and submission; Moral blank, and moral void, Life at very birth destroyed, Atrophy, exinanition! Duty! Yea, by duty's prime condition Pure nonentity of duty!