Virtue runs before the muse <br />And defies her skill, <br />She is rapt, and doth refuse <br />To wait a painter's will. <br /> <br />Star-adoring, occupied, <br />Virtue cannot bend her, <br />Just to please a poet's pride, <br />To parade her splendor. <br /> <br />The bard must be with good intent <br />No more his, but hers, <br />Throw away his pen and paint, <br />Kneel with worshippers. <br /> <br />Then, perchance, a sunny ray <br />From the heaven of fire, <br />His lost tools may over-pay, <br />And better his desire.<br /><br />Ralph Waldo Emerson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/loss-and-gain-2/
