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James Russell Lowell - The Miner
Work rating: Low

Down `mid the tangled roots of things
  That coil about the central fire,
I seek for that which giveth wings
  To stoop, not soar, to my desire.

Sometimes I hear, as `twere a sigh,
  The sea`s deep yearning far above,
`Thou hast the secret not,` I cry,
  `In deeper deeps is hid my Love.`

They think I burrow from the sun,
  In darkness, all alone, and weak;
Such loss were gain if He were won,
  For `tis the sun`s own Sun I seek.

`The earth,` they murmur, `is the tomb
  That vainly sought his life to prison;
Why grovel longer in the gloom?
  He is not here; he hath arisen.`

More life for me where he hath lain
  Hidden while ye believed him dead,
Than in cathedrals cold and vain,
  Built on loose sands of _It is said_.

My search is for the living gold;
  Him I desire who dwells recluse,
And not his image worn and old,
  Day-servant of our sordid use.

If him I find not, yet I find
  The ancient joy of cell and church,
The glimpse, the surety undefined,
  The unquenched ardor of the search.

Happier to chase a flying goal
  Than to sit counting laurelled gains,
To guess the Soul within the soul
  Than to be lord of what remains.

Hide still, best Good, in subtile wise,
  Beyond my nature`s utmost scope;
Be ever absent from mine eyes
  To be twice present in my hope!
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