| Matthew Arnold (1822–88). The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840–1867. 1909. | | | | The Strayed Reveller, and Other Poems | | Sonnets: To an Independent Preacher |
| | WHO PREACHED THAT WE SHOULD BE ‘IN HARMONY WITH NATURE’
[First published 1849.]
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‘IN harmony with Nature’? Restless fool, | |
| Who with such heat dost preach what were to thee, | |
| When true, the last impossibility; | |
| To be like Nature strong, like Nature cool:— | |
| Know, man hath all which Nature hath, but more, | 5 |
| And in that more lie all his hopes of good. | |
| Nature is cruel; man is sick of blood: | |
| Nature is stubborn; man would fain adore: | |
| Nature is fickle; man hath need of rest: | |
| Nature forgives no debt, and fears no grave; | 10 |
| Man would be mild, and with safe conscience blest. | |
| Man must begin, know this, where Nature ends; | |
| Nature and man can never be fast friends. | |
| Fool, if thou canst not pass her, rest her slave! | | | |
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