meditation
russell green
i saw the stars against the summer night
still trembling as they trembled when the light
first fell upon them from the further world.
i could not bend my proud humanity
to kneel before the cold immensity,
i,who had youth and love,i,who could know,——
they,——flotsam on the ethereal ebb and flow,
dead things unmoved by immaterial fire
of hope and anguish and divine desire.
they were not more omnipotent than i,
they could not see and dream and change and die.
i could not bow before infinity,
the silent grandeur could not conquer me.