Classic Poem

— With the ancient dwelleth wisdom, —
So the proverb long has run;
But where is it dwells the ancient, —
In what clime, beneath what sun?

Looking for the temple hoary,
Down the ages past men go, —
Listening for the far-off whisper,
Thus the sacred lore to know.

But from out the early twilight
Of the earth's primeval time,
Wrecks of kingdoms and religions,
Lisping love and stammering rhyme,

Speaks no orbed and finished wisdom;
From the sky no final word:
Tongues confused and fragments muttered;
Only childish voices heard.

But down from the heavens falling,
On the fresh winds whispering clear,
Comes a voice that earnest crieth,
— — He that hath ears, let him hear! —

— Lo, ye seek in vain that follow
Back the path the past hath trod:
Stand upon thy feet and listen
What to-day commandeth God.

— Seek ye wisdom in the cradle?
Know ye not the earth's young morn
Bent above the primal jungle,
Where, in twilight, man was born?

— Childish wonder, childish questions,
Childish guesses after truth,
Fickle gods and freakish nature, —
These the fancies of his youth.

— Only now at last he standeth
On the border of his prime,
Looking up the ages leading
To the far-off heights of time.

— For old age, you've taken childhood;
Childhood's lisping counted wise;
Babblings of the cradle reckoned
Wisdom flowing from the skies.

— Would you hear earth's grown-up wisdom?
From the cradle turn away;
Put the past behind; look forward;
Ask th' opinion of to-day.

— Now, of all times, is the eldest:
This hour in her hand doth hold
Garnered fruit of all the ages,
All their sifted grains of gold.

— — With the ancient dwelleth wisdom — :
Seek then where the ancient dwells.
Hear To-day; and, bending forward,
Catch the truth To-morrow tells.

— For each round upon Time's ladder,
Sloping upward toward the light,
Brings thee nearer to the temple
Wherein dwells th' eternal Right. —