Page:Poems, Household Edition, Emerson, 1904.djvu/62

26 They discredit Adamhood.

Eyes of gods! ye must have seen,

O'er your ramparts as ye lean,

The general debility;

Of genius the sterility;

Mighty projects countermanded;

Rash ambition, brokenhanded;

Puny man and scentless rose

Tormenting Pan to double the dose.

Rebuild or ruin: either fill

Of vital force the wasted rill,

Or tumble all again in heap

To weltering Chaos and to sleep.

Say, Seigniors, are the old Niles dry,

Which fed the veins of earth and sky,

That mortals miss the loyal heats,

Which drove them erst to social feats;

Now, to a savage selfness grown,

Think nature barely serves for one;

With science poorly mask their hurt;

And vex the gods with question pert,

Immensely curious whether you

Still are rulers, or Mildew?

Masters, I 'm in pain with you;

Masters, I 'll be plain with you;

In my palace of Castile,

I, a king, for kings can feel.