Quote#Nature
Oh dear and laughing, lost to me
Quote byStephen Vincent Benét · 1898–1943
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Quality of Courage.
English (original)
Oh dear and laughing, lost to me, Hidden in grey Eternity, I shall attain, with burning feet, To you and to the mercy-seat! The ages crumble down like dust, Dark roses, deviously thrust And scattered in sweet wine — but I, I shall lift up to you my cry, And kiss your wet lips presently Beneath the ever-living Tree.
— Stephen Vincent Benét
More from Stephen Vincent Benét
The fight was done. Even gods tire Of fighting...
It is not given me to trace The lovely laughter of that face
The iron ice stung like a goad, Slashing the torn shoes from my feet, And all the air was bitter sleet. And all the land was cramped with snow, Steel-strong and fierce and glimmering wan, Like pale plains of obsidian. — And yet I strove — …
Life was a storm to wander through. I took the wrong way. Good and well, At least my feet sought out not Hell!
And then a light winked like an eye. . . . And very many miles away
Like a great word once known and lost And meaning all things.