III.
If life is but gas, as somesavantssay,Or caused by some general harmony,Or principle inherent in the blood,Or blood is life itself, as Hunter prov’d,What matters it? Doctors may disagreeOn subjects which concern not you or me.Most foolish things wise men have oft conceived;More foolish should we seem if we believedTheir theories; for instance, they did planA lofty tower, thus to enable manTo clamber into Heaven. This “Babel”Seems to us unreal as a fable.But other “Babels” on the social stageMen oft have rear’d, e’en in their hoary age,Thinking therein true happiness to find,Sharing its joys with some congenial mind.If love, hope, courage, bind their hearts within,What care they for their neighbors, kith, or kin?
If life is but gas, as somesavantssay,Or caused by some general harmony,Or principle inherent in the blood,Or blood is life itself, as Hunter prov’d,What matters it? Doctors may disagreeOn subjects which concern not you or me.Most foolish things wise men have oft conceived;More foolish should we seem if we believedTheir theories; for instance, they did planA lofty tower, thus to enable manTo clamber into Heaven. This “Babel”Seems to us unreal as a fable.But other “Babels” on the social stageMen oft have rear’d, e’en in their hoary age,Thinking therein true happiness to find,Sharing its joys with some congenial mind.If love, hope, courage, bind their hearts within,What care they for their neighbors, kith, or kin?
If life is but gas, as somesavantssay,
Or caused by some general harmony,
Or principle inherent in the blood,
Or blood is life itself, as Hunter prov’d,
What matters it? Doctors may disagree
On subjects which concern not you or me.
Most foolish things wise men have oft conceived;
More foolish should we seem if we believed
Their theories; for instance, they did plan
A lofty tower, thus to enable man
To clamber into Heaven. This “Babel”
Seems to us unreal as a fable.
But other “Babels” on the social stage
Men oft have rear’d, e’en in their hoary age,
Thinking therein true happiness to find,
Sharing its joys with some congenial mind.
If love, hope, courage, bind their hearts within,
What care they for their neighbors, kith, or kin?