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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE VAIN QUESTION, by ADA CAMBRIDGE Poet's Biography First Line: Why should we court the storms that rave and rend Last Line: Is not a task for thee. Alternate Author Name(s): Cross, George, Mrs. Subject(s): Conduct Of Life | |||
Why should we court the storms that rave and rend, Safe at our household hearth? Why, starved and naked, without home or friend, Unknowing whence we came or where we wend, Follow from no beginning to no end An uncrowned martyr's path? Is it worth while to waste our all in vain? To seek, and not to know? To strive for something we can never gain, To labour blindly for a wage of pain, And crack our heartstrings with the stress and strain, And reap no field we sow? What does it matter whether love or hate, Or praise or blame, be theirs Who pass like shadows, with no time to wait For understanding of the ways of fate, Which makes the hopeless desert blossom late, And kills good wheat with tares? Why do we choose to suffer, when we might Lie down to sleep and dream? Is praise for men who try to do the right? Is blame for him who shirks the deadly fight? And whose the friendship that is heart's delight? And whose the love supreme? Wide do we set our sanctuary door That fairest guest to greet, And find too late, when we have shown our store, The sacred places rudely trampled o'er, Bereaved, profaned, and soiled for evermore With tread of vulgar feet. And nothing left to solace us but this, At such a frightful cost -- A taste, a glimpse, the memory of a kiss; Only a sense of what diviner bliss, That might have been, we have contrived to miss; Only what love has lost. And brother-bond -- the loyal comradeship That comes to every call -- What worth the smiling eye, the warm hand-grip, The benediction of the kindly lip? Sickness, old age or poverty can strip The value from them all. And faith, embalmed in immemorial creed -- Once our supreme support, Our staff and beacon to uphold and lead -- A light extinguished and a broken reed! And where, O where, in bitter time of need, Shall substitute be sought? Wherefore this anguish of desire to see That which concerns us not -- The evolution of the life to be, The distant course, the final destiny Of worlds and men -- the ages wherein we Shall have no part or lot? Why not shut eyes of spirit and of brain That can torment us thus? Why not take something to assuage the pain, And shut the doors and go to sleep again? The Search may be successful or in vain, What matters it to us? Is it worth while, when house and home are here, And we can dwell at ease, To go forth, lonely, and in mortal fear, To travel roads that lead not anywhere, As bare of lamp or signpost, far or near, And full of thorns, as these? To leave the Good whereof we are possest, To seek, in senseless grief, For some divine but ever unknown Best, And see no goal and find no place of rest -- Is it worth while, on such a fruitless quest To waste a life so brief? We must not ask -- we must not ask again. We have to wait and see. Press on, poor soul, along the path of pain That is the one thing absolutely plain. The last assessment of the loss and gain Is not a task for thee. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD by MATTHEA HARVEY SLOWLY: I FREQUENTLY SLOWLY WISH by LYN HEJINIAN MY LIFE: YET WE INSIST THAT LIFE IS FULL OF HAPPY CHANCE by LYN HEJINIAN CHAPTER HEADING by ERNEST HEMINGWAY PUNK HALF PANTHER by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA A CERTAIN MAN by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA GREEN-STRIPED MELONS by JANE HIRSHFIELD LIKE THE SMALL HOLE BY THE PATH-SIDE SOMETHING LIVES IN by JANE HIRSHFIELD |
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