Songs from the Sun, Songs from the ground,
Songs from the ... stars,
Songs, { fine souls of the body of sound,
{ joined souls and bodies of sound,
... ghosts of songs that died,
Songs of Birth and of Death, of ...
Beat million-rhythmed in the heart of my hearing,
The world is all sound and still signs of sound.
It appears that if I were perfect, I could not be perfect.
For with whoever is perfect, there is nothing more to be done.
But if there were nothing more to do, I would be very sorry: that is, I
would not be perfect.
Therefore it appears that I would not be perfect if I were perfect.
[_Credo, and Other Poems_]
We know more than we know.
That the Lord is all, I know:
That I am part, I know.
But how shall we settle our provinces and diplomacies and boundaries,
the Lord and I?
Let us talk of this matter, dear Lord, I talking in silence.
_But the corruption, the rascality, the &c., &c._,
I am not afraid.
_But the stock broker, the whiskey ring_,
I am not afraid.
_Nay, but the war in the East_,
I am not afraid.
I see God about his godly affairs,
The cat-bird sits in the tree and sings
While the boy kills the &c. beneath.
The mocking-bird hanging over the street sings, though robbery, murder,
fire, &c., go on.