Classic Poem

I

I T happened in the days of old
Brahm gave a man an egg to hold.
" Hold ye this egg, " he said, " and learn
To bide in peace till I return. "
Then from the earth a mist upreared
Wherein the great Brahm disappeared.

II

The self-same hour in days of old
Brahm gave a man a rod to hold.
And said, " This rod is grooved to gears
Whereby I guide the moving spheres;
This is the lever rod whereby
I move the worlds that throng the sky.
Hold ye this rod, " he said, " and learn
To bide in peace till I return. "
Then through a thunder-cloud he steered,
And mid the lightnings disappeared.

III

The man who held the egg turned pale,
And his weak heart began to fail.
" Ah, " groaned he, " by what vain decree
Did Brahm assign this egg to me?
This universe is ruled, 'tis plain,
By fickle gods of little brain;
The worlds roll on in aimless dance
To jangled tunes of brainless chance;
Men are but animated clods,
The trifling playthings of the gods;
The universe is built on guess,
Its base is laid on nothingness;
And Brahm, he plays a monster's part,
And deep I hate him from my heart. "
His heart grew cold in awful doubt,
His hand relaxed — the egg dropped out,
Fell to the earth without delay,
And smashed, as eggs will smash to-day.

IV

The man who held the awful rod
Mused on the greatness of the god,
Upon the wisdom of his plan;
The awful majesty of man;
The great eonian goals whereto
The worlds are moved the ages through;
The cycles of the cosmic range,
Their upward sweep from change to change;
The soul of goodness at the core
Of nature's heart forevermore;
And all his soul was ravished by
The spheral music harmony.
" Brahm plays, " he said, " a father's part,
And deep I love him from my heart. "
So, rapt in wonderment sublime,
He lost the sense of space and time,
And musing on the ways of God —
Forgot his charge and dropped the rod.

V

Then through the deeps of space were hurled
The wrecks of many a shattered world;
And many a sun in aimless flight
Shot flaming through chaotic night;
From their eternal stations high
The stars forsook the reeling sky;
And Chaos oped its Stygian deep,
(Drowsed in eternities of sleep),
To crown Creation's final curse,
And gulp the ruined universe.

VI

Then Brahm returned, and waved his hand
In silent gesture of command,
And moved tow'rd Chaos' seething swim,
And called the wild suns back to him.
And, back from bournless gulfs of space,
Each star returned to his own place.
And then, with a benignant nod,
He called the man who dropped the rod.
The man who dropped the egg drew near,
And stood before the god in fear.

VII

Then to the man who dropped the rod
He said, " Thou art beloved of God;
And unto thee henceforth is given
The guidance of the lower heaven. "
But said to him who dropped the egg;
" I see that thou art still a dreg;
I re-incarnate thee anew
Into a worm — for 'tis thy due.
Be beast, bird, reptile of the fen
Ere thou emerge a man agen.
A thousand cycles must be run
Ere thou, as man, shalt see the sun. "
" I only dropped an egg, " said he,
" Then why impose this curse on me?
And why not give to him thy curse —
This man who dropped a universe?
But unto him a place is given,
Vicegerent of the lower heaven. "
" Ah, learn, " said Brahm, " the eternal fact,
It is the thought behind the act,
And not the act, I bless or ban, —
The motive, not the deed, of man.
He loved, while thou didst hate. Depart —
Depart, and be the worm thou art. "