EXPERIENCE
by: Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882)
- HE lords
of life, the lords of life,--
- I saw them pass
- In their own guise,
- Like and unlike,
- Portly and grim,--
- Use and Surprise,
- Surface and Dream,
- Succession swift and spectral Wrong,
- Temperament without a tongue,
- And the inventor of the game
- Omnipresent without name;--
- Some to see, some to be guessed
- They marched from east to west:
- Little man, least of all,
- Among the legs of his guardians tall,
- Walked about with puzzled look.
- Him by the hand dear Nature took,
- Dearest Nature, strong and kind,
- Whispered, 'Darling, never mind!
- To-morrow they will wear another face,
- The founder thou; these are thy race!'
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