At length I sickened, standing in the sun Truthful and for the Truth, whose only fees Are madness and sharp death. I bowed my knees And said: “As long as the world's years have run, These accents have been said and these things done: That which is mine abasement is their ease: They say, ‘Go to—all this is as we please: Shall we, being many, step aside for one?’
“And thus it is that though the air be new, And my brow finds the coolness it hath sought Through the slow-stricken night,—the daily curse Weighs on my soul of what I waken to: For though I loathe the price, this must be bought.” …Thou fool! Would'st buy from man what God confers?
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
(An English poet, painter, illustrator and translator.)
The Turning-Point
At length I sickened, standing in the sun
Truthful and for the Truth, whose only fees
Are madness and sharp death. I bowed my knees
And said: “As long as the world's years have run,
These accents have been said and these things done:
That which is mine abasement is their ease:
They say, ‘Go to—all this is as we please:
Shall we, being many, step aside for one?’
“And thus it is that though the air be new,
And my brow finds the coolness it hath sought
Through the slow-stricken night,—the daily curse
Weighs on my soul of what I waken to:
For though I loathe the price, this must be bought.”
…Thou fool! Would'st buy from man what God confers?
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
(An English poet, painter, illustrator and translator.)
source(s):
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-turning-point-6/
http://www.poemhunter.com/dante-gabriel-rossetti/biography/