Poem outlines / by Sidney Lanier [electronic text]

About this Item

Title
Poem outlines / by Sidney Lanier [electronic text]
Author
Lanier, Sidney, 1842-1881
Publication
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons
1908
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Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/BAH8752.0001.001
Cite this Item
"Poem outlines / by Sidney Lanier [electronic text]." In the digital collection American Verse Project. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/BAH8752.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 4, 2025.

Pages

Are ye so sharp set

ARE ye so sharp set for the centre of the earth, are ye so hungry for the centre of things,

O rains and springs and rivers of the mountains?

Towards the centre of the earth, towards the very Middle of things, ye will fall, ye will run, the Centre will draw ye, Gravity will drive you and draw you in one:

But the Centre ye will not reach, ye will come as near as the plains — watering them in coming so near — and ye will come as near as the bottom of the Ocean — seeing and working many marvels as ye come so near.

But the Centre of Things ye will not reach,

O my rivers and rains and springs of the mountains.

Provision is made that ye shall not: ye would be merged, ye could not return.

Nor shall my Soul be merged in God, though tending, though tending.

[Hymns of the Mountains, and Other Poems]
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