Last Songs from Vagabondia

by Bliss Carman and Richard Hovey

 

HARMONICS

 
"TRUTH is not a creed,
For it does not need
Ever an apology.
Truth is not an ology;
'T is not part, but all.
5
Priests and savans shall
Never solve the mystic
Problem. The artistic
Mind alone of all can tell
What is Truth.
10

"Poet, thou art wisest;
Dogmas thou despisest—
Science little prizest.
Tell us, for thou knowest well,
What is Truth."
15

Spake the seekers to an holy
Bard, who answered, mild and lowly—
This, all this, was in the olden
Days when Saturn’s reign was golden —

"Shall I read the riddle—
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Tell you what is Truth?
Truth is not the first
Not the last or middle;
'T is the beautiful
And symmetric whole,
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Embracing best and worst,
Embracing age and youth.

"All the universe
Is one mighty song,
Wherein every star
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Chants out loud and strong
Each set note and word
It must aye rehearse.
Though the parts may jar,
The whole is as one chord."
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