Jonathan Swift Somers (Author ofthe Spooniad)After you have enriched your soulTo the highest point,With books, thought, suffering,The understanding of many personalities,The power to interpret glances, silences,The pauses in momentous transformations,The genius of divination and prophecy;So that you feel able at times to hold the worldIn the hollow of your hand;Then, if, by the crowding of so many powersInto the compass of your soul,Your soul takes fire,And in the conflagration of your soulThe evil of the world is lighted up and made clear—Be thankful if in that hour of supreme visionLife does not fiddle.
After you have enriched your soulTo the highest point,With books, thought, suffering,The understanding of many personalities,The power to interpret glances, silences,The pauses in momentous transformations,The genius of divination and prophecy;So that you feel able at times to hold the worldIn the hollow of your hand;Then, if, by the crowding of so many powersInto the compass of your soul,Your soul takes fire,And in the conflagration of your soulThe evil of the world is lighted up and made clear—Be thankful if in that hour of supreme visionLife does not fiddle.