Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land By Herman

Yea,
ape and angel, strife and old debate\u2014

The
harps of heaven and dreary gongs of hell;

Science
the feud can only aggravate\u2014

No
umpire she betwixt the chimes and knell:

The
running battle of the star and clod

Shall
run forever\u2014if there be no God.

Degrees
we know, unknown in days before;

The
light is greater, hence the shadow more;

And
tantalized and apprehensive Man

Appealing\u2014Wherefore
ripen us to pain?

Seems
there the spokesman of dumb Nature\u2019s train.

But
through such strange illusions have they passed

Who
in life\u2019s pilgrimage have baffled striven\u2014

Even
death may prove unreal at the last,

And
stoics be astounded into heaven.

Then
keep thy heart, though yet but ill resigned

Clarel, thy heart, the issues there but mind;

That
like the crocus budding through the snow\u2014

That
like a swimmer rising from the deep\u2014

That
like a burning secret which doth go

Even
from the bosom that would hoard and keep; Emerge thou mayst
from the last whelming sea,

And
prove that death but routs life into victory.