| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 270. ‘O World, thou choosest not’ |
| By George Santayana (b. 1863) |
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| O WORLD, thou choosest not the better part! | |
| It is not wisdom to be only wise, | |
| And on the inward vision close the eyes, | |
| But it is wisdom to believe the heart. | |
| Columbus found a world, and had no chart, | 5 |
| Save one that faith deciphered in the skies; | |
| To trust the soul’s invincible surmise | |
| Was all his science and his only art. | |
| Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine | |
| That lights the pathway but one step ahead | 10 |
| Across a void of mystery and dread. | |
| Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine | |
| By which alone the mortal heart is led | |
| Unto the thinking of the thought divine. | |
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