Birth seems like chance, and life appears uncertain:
All living things express a force unbidden.
Unconscious Nature never lifts the curtain:
Men fumble at her door—the key is hidden.
They call chance blind, and they themselves are blind:
Great Nature's forces, unrestrained and free,
Produced, by chance, this giant of mankind,
And challenge man to solve his mystery.
Spontaneous! Inspired! The perfect flower
Of chance, he was by liberal Nature sent
To lead man nobly, with unconscious power,
And justify the law of accident.
Titanic seer! And poet lovable!
His life links Shakespeare's with the probable.