Three errors there are, that forever
are found
On the lips of the good, on
the lips of the best;
But empty their meaning and hollow
their sound-
And slight is the comfort
they bring to the breast.
The fruits of existence escape from
the clasp
Of the seeker who strives but those
shadows to grasp-
So long as man dreams of some age
in this life
When the right and the good
will all evil subdue;
For the right and the good lead
us ever to strife,
And wherever they lead us
the fiend will pursue.
And (till from the earth borne,
and stifled at length)
The earth that he touches still
gifts him with strength!
So long as man fancies that fortune
will live,
Like a bride with her lover,
united with worth;
For her favors, alas! to the mean
she will give-
And virtue possesses no title
to earth!
That foreigner wanders to regions
afar,
Where the lands of her birthright
immortally are!
So long as man dreams that, to mortals
a gift,
The truth in her fulness of
splendor will shine;
The veil of the goddess no earth-born
may lift,
And all we can learn is-to
guess and divine!
Dost thou seek, in a dogma, to prison
her form?
The spirit flies forth on the wings
of the storm!
O, noble soul! fly from delusions
like these,
More heavenly belief be it
thine to adore;
Where the ear never hearkens, the
eye never sees,
Meet the rivers of beauty
and truth evermore!
Not without thee the streams-there
the dull seek them;-No!
Look within thee-behold
both the fount and the flow!
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