Page:Captain Craig; a book of poems.djvu/71

Rh What fragment of God's laughter they have caught, What earnest of its rhythm; and I believe That I, in having somewhat recognized The formal measure of it, have endured The discord of infirmity not less Through fortune than by failure. What men lose, Man gains; and what man gains reports itself In losses we but vaguely deprecate, So they be not for us;—and this is right, Except that when the devil in the sun Misguides us we go darkly where the shine Misleads us, and we know not what we see: We know not if we climb or if we fall; And if we fly, we know not where we fly.

"And here do I insert an urging clause For climbers and up-fliers of all sorts, Cliff-climbers and high-fliers: Phaethon, Bellerophon, and Icarus did each Go gloriously up, and each in turn Did famously come down—as you have read In poems and elsewhere; but other men Have mounted where no fame has followed them, And we have had no sight, no news of them, And we have heard no crash. The crash may count,