John Owen (1836-1896). Verse Musings on Nature, Faith, and Freedom (1889). I. Faith. V. Life and Thought. Alfred H. Miles, ed. 1907. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

Verse Musings on Nature, Faith, and Freedom (1889).
I. Faith.
V. Life and Thought

By John Owen (1836–1896)


UNSOUGHT came Life to me,
And with it brought
A precious, perilous gift—
The gift of Thought.

Life grew, and with its growth	5
Grew also Thought,
Like twin-born beings, from birth
To rivalry wrought.

First, Life claimed precedence,
In that it sought	10
To merge in its own being,
The being of Thought.

Said Life, “No useful end
Is gained by Thought,
And all its doubts and quests	15
Come but to nought.”

But Thought in turn replied,
“Life cannot choose
But live; nor yet can Thought
Its subtler being refuse.	20

“By direful stress ondriven,
I still must quest,
Though answer full and true
Ne’er bring me rest.

“Thou, Life, mayst easy live,	25
Deprived of Thought,
Nay, myriads pass through life
To think untaught.

“Yet to man’s life doth Thought,
Though vain its quest,	30
Lend all the power that makes
It nobly blest.”

Then, sighing, Life replied,
“Too-bounded scope,
Poor foolish thought, gives Life	35
For thy great hope.

“And space and time, and all
That men call being,
Are objects much too small
For thy far-seeing.”	40

To which Thought once more said,
“Thus it must be,
That Thought can more than Life,
And further see.

“Wherefore thou seest, Life,	45
Howe’er distraught,
By her great quest—far higher
Than Life is Thought.” * * * * *
Then I at last, well-learned
In power of Thought,	50
And worth of Life—to soothe
Their rivalry sought.

Thus to the twain said I,
“What needs this strife?
Twin mysteries are ye,	55
Both Thought and Life.”