Across the brook of Time man leaping goes <br /> On stepping-stones of epochs, that uprise <br />Fixed, memorable, midst broad shallow flows <br /> Of neutrals, kill-times, sleeps, indifferencies. <br />So twixt each morn and night rise salient heaps: <br /> Some cross with but a zigzag, jaded pace <br />From meal to meal: some with convulsive leaps <br /> Shake the green tussocks of malign disgrace: <br />And some advance by system and deep art <br /> O'er vantages of wealth, place, learning, tact. <br />But thou within thyself, dear manifold heart, <br /> Dost bind all epochs in one dainty Fact. <br /> Oh, sweet, my pretty sum of history, <br /> I leapt the breadth of Time in loving thee!<br /><br />Sidney Lanier<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/laus-mariae/
