Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/303

Rh Yes! all this eddying, motley throng

That sparkles in the sun along,—

Girl, statesman, merchant, soldier bold,

Master and servant, young and old,

Grave, gay, child, parent, husband, wife,—

He follows home, and lives their life.

"And many, many are the souls

Life's movement fascinates, controls.

It draws them on, they cannot save

Their feet from its alluring wave;

They cannot leave it, they must go

With its unconquerable flow.

But ah! how few, of all that try

This mighty march, do aught but die!

For ill-endowed for such a way,

Ill-stored in strength, in wits, are they.

They faint, they stagger to and fro,

And wandering from the stream they go;

In pain, in terror, in distress,

They see, all round, a wilderness.

Sometimes a momentary gleam

They catch of the mysterious stream;

Sometimes, a second's space, their ear

The murmur of its waves doth hear;

That transient glimpse in song they say,

But not as painter can portray;

That transient sound in song they tell,

But not as the musician well.

And when at last their snatches cease,

And they are silent and at peace,

The stream of life's majestic whole

Hath ne'er been mirrored on their soul.