Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Verse Musings on Nature, Faith, and Freedom (1889). I. Faith. V. Life and ThoughtJohn Owen (18361896)
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And with it brought
A precious, perilous gift—
The gift of Thought.
Grew also Thought,
Like twin-born beings, from birth
To rivalry wrought.
In that it sought
To merge in its own being,
The being of Thought.
Is gained by Thought,
And all its doubts and quests
Come but to nought.”
“Life cannot choose
But live; nor yet can Thought
Its subtler being refuse.
I still must quest,
Though answer full and true
Ne’er bring me rest.
Deprived of Thought,
Nay, myriads pass through life
To think untaught.
Though vain its quest,
Lend all the power that makes
It nobly blest.”
“Too-bounded scope,
Poor foolish thought, gives Life
For thy great hope.
That men call being,
Are objects much too small
For thy far-seeing.”
“Thus it must be,
That Thought can more than Life,
And further see.
Howe’er distraught,
By her great quest—far higher
Than Life is Thought.”
Then I at last, well-learned
In power of Thought,
And worth of Life—to soothe
Their rivalry sought.
“What needs this strife?
Twin mysteries are ye,
Both Thought and Life.”