A cloistered path is mine to tread;
Unvexed I go,
Companioned by the splendid dead,
Though well I know
Of broken lives to Moloch fed,
Of sordid shifts for dally bread,
And bartered souls who, drifting, dread
Life's turgid flow.
I joy in gallant company,
Where sage and bard,
With wisdom, faith, and prophecy,
All earth regard;
They trace man's lowly ancestry,
They seek to plumb all mystery,
They sing romance, high fantasy,
Thought's treasured nard.
Would all might share this world apart,
There win release
In life as re-create by art,
Where discords cease!
Through solitude or clamorous mart,
When threatens doom with poison dart,
By faith, and visition stayed, the heart
Knows cool deep peace.
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 June 1932
Unvexed I go,
Companioned by the splendid dead,
Though well I know
Of broken lives to Moloch fed,
Of sordid shifts for dally bread,
And bartered souls who, drifting, dread
Life's turgid flow.
I joy in gallant company,
Where sage and bard,
With wisdom, faith, and prophecy,
All earth regard;
They trace man's lowly ancestry,
They seek to plumb all mystery,
They sing romance, high fantasy,
Thought's treasured nard.
Would all might share this world apart,
There win release
In life as re-create by art,
Where discords cease!
Through solitude or clamorous mart,
When threatens doom with poison dart,
By faith, and visition stayed, the heart
Knows cool deep peace.
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 June 1932
