Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/269

Rh Born into life! man grows

Forth from his parents' stem,

And blends their bloods, as those

Of theirs are blent in them;

So each new man strikes root into a far fore-time.

Born into life! we bring

A bias with us here,

And, when here, each new thing

Affects us we come near;

To tunes we did not call, our being must keep chime.

Born into life! in vain,

Opinions, those or these,

Unaltered to retain,

The obstinate mind decrees:

Experience, like a sea, soaks all-effacing in.

Born into life! who lists

May what is false hold dear,

And for himself make mists

Through which to see less clear:

The world is what it is, for all our dust and din.

Born into life! 'tis we,

And not the world, are new;

Our cry for bliss, our plea,

Others have urged it too:

Our wants have all been felt, our errors made before.

No eye could be too sound

To observe a world so vast,

No patience too profound

To sort what's here amassed;

How man may here best live, no care too great to explore.