Unattained.
Ah ! the great heights we fain, but could
not climb !1
The noble things we vowed, but could not do
!2
Vague stretchings towards illimitable blue3
Of weak hands fettered by the chains of Time,4
Echoes ineffable of angel rhyme5
Beating heroic numbers long nights through,6
Yet dull and trivial when they met the view7
Of the prosaic daylight ! The sublime8
High towering thoughts that had so mean a vent,9
Gigantic hopes doomed to such pigmy state,10
Dwarféd fruition of emotions great ;11
The exultant thrill, the dreaming glow was spent12
When the shaped purpose crystallised to Fate—13
No rapt earth trembled when our veil was rent !14