Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950). Spoon River Anthology. 1916.

223. Scholfield Huxley

GOD! ask me not to record your wonders,

I admit the stars and the suns

And the countless worlds.

But I have measured their distances

And weighed them and discovered their substances.

I have devised wings for the air,

And keels for water,

And horses of iron for the earth.

I have lengthened the vision you gave me a million times,

And the hearing you gave me a million times,

I have leaped over space with speech,

And taken fire for light out of the air.

I have built great cities and bored through the hills,

And bridged majestic waters.

I have written the Iliad and Hamlet;

And I have explored your mysteries,

And searched for you without ceasing,

And found you again after losing you

In hours of weariness—

And I ask you:

How would you like to create a sun

And the next day have the worms

Slipping in and out between your fingers?