Page:Writings of Henry David Thoreau (1906) v5.djvu/438

396 INSPIRATION

with light head erect I sing,

Though all the Muses lend their force,

From my poor love of anything,

The verse is weak and shallow as its source.

But if with bended neck I grope,

Listening behind me for my wit,

With faith superior to hope,

More anxious to keep back than forward it,

Making my soul accomplice there

Unto the flame my heart hath lit,

Then will the verse forever wear,—

Time cannot bend the line which God hath writ.

Always the general show of things

Floats in review before my mind,

And such true love and reverence brings,

That sometimes I forget that I am blind.

But now there comes unsought, unseen,

Some clear divine electuary,