Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume VI. Fancy. 1904. | | | | Poems of Sentiment: IV. Thought: Poetry: Books | | The Scholar | | Sir Henry Taylor (1800–1886) |
| | From “Edwin the Fair”
THIS life, and all that it contains, to him | |
| Is but a tissue of illuminous dreams | |
| Filled with book-wisdom, pictured thought and love | |
| That on its own creations spends itself. | |
| All things he understands, and nothing does. | 5 |
| Profusely eloquent in copious praise | |
| Of action, he will talk to you as one | |
| Whose wisdom lay in dealings and transactions; | |
| Yet so much action as might tie his shoe | |
| Cannot his will command; himself alone | 10 |
| By his own wisdom not a jot the gainer. | |
| Of silence, and the hundred thousand things | |
| ’T is better not to mention, he will speak, | |
| And still most wisely. | | | | |
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