Page:Miscellanies - With a biographical sketch by Ralph Waldo Emerson and a general index to the writings. -- by Thoreau, Henry David.djvu/313

Rh Of the ocean waves, and earth, mother of all,

And thou all-seeing orb of the sun I call.

Behold me what a god I suffer at the hands of gods.

See by what outrages

Tormented the myriad-yeared

Time I shall endure; such the new

Ruler of the blessed has contrived for me,

Unseemly bonds.

Alas! alas! the present and the coming

Woe I groan; where ever of these sufferings

Must an end appear.

But what say I? I know beforehand all,

Exactly what will be, nor to me strange

Will any evil come. The destined fate

As easily as possible it behooves to bear, knowing

Necessity's is a resistless strength.

But neither to be silent nor unsilent about this

Lot is possible for me; for a gift to mortals

Giving, I wretched have been yoked to these necessities;

Within a hollow reed by stealth I carry off fire's

Stolen source, which seemed the teacher

Of all art to mortals, and a great resource.

For such crimes penalty I pay,

Under the sky, riveted in chains.

Ah! ah! alas! alas!