More blest than was of old Diogenes,
I have not held my lantern up in vain.
Not mine, at least, this evil–to complain:
“There is none honest among all of these.”
Our hopes go down that sailed before the breeze;
Our creeds upon the rock are rent in twain;
Something it is, if at the last remain
One floating spar cast up by hungry seas.
The secret of our being, who can tell?
To praise the gods and Fate is not my part;
Evil I see, and pain ; within my heart
There is no voice that whispers: “All is well.”
Yet fair are days in summer; and more fair
The growths of human goodness here and there.
(Amy Levy)
More Poetry from Amy Levy:
Amy Levy Poems based on Topics: God, Summer, Fairness, Secrets, Fate & Destiny, Good & Evil- Xantippe(A Fragment) (Amy Levy Poems)
- To Lallie (Outside the British Museum.) (Amy Levy Poems)
- A Ballad Of Religion And Marriage (Amy Levy Poems)
- Alma Mater (Amy Levy Poems)
- A Game of Lawn Tennis (Amy Levy Poems)
- Epitaph (On a Commonplace Person Who Died in Bed) (Amy Levy Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: God Poems, Fairness Poems, Fate & Destiny Poems, Summer Poems, Secrets Poems, Good & Evil PoemsBased on Keywords: spar, creeds, growths, diogenes
- Advice, To Search For The Lord Jesus Christ (Rees Prichard Poems)
- Aechdeacon Barbour (John Greenleaf Whittier Poems)
- The Old Sheperd's Recollections (Matilda Betham Poems)
- The Golden Legend: VI. The School Of Salerno (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poems)
- The Art Of Preserving Health. Book IV (John Armstrong Poems)