YES; when the ways oppose— <br /> When the hard means rebel, <br />Fairer the work out-grows,— <br /> More potent far the spell. <br /> <br />O Poet, then, forbear <br /> The loosely-sandalled verse, <br />Choose rather thou to wear <br /> The buskin—strait and terse; <br /> <br />Leave to the tiro’s hand <br /> The limp and shapeless style; <br />See that thy form demand <br /> The labor of the file. <br /> <br />Sculptor, do thou discard <br /> The yielding clay,—consign <br />To Paros marble hard <br /> The beauty of thy line;— <br /> <br />Model thy Satyr’s face <br /> For bronze of Syracuse; <br />In the veined agate trace <br /> The profile of thy Muse. <br /> <br />Painter, that still must mix <br /> But transient tints anew, <br />Thou in the furnace fix <br /> The firm enamel’s hue; <br /> <br />Let the smooth tile receive <br /> Thy dove-drawn Erycine; <br />Thy Sirens blue at eve <br /> Coiled in a wash of wine. <br /> <br />All passes. Art alone <br /> Enduring stays to us; <br />The Bust outlasts the throne,— <br /> The Coin, Tiberius; <br /> <br />Even the gods must go; <br /> Only the lofty Rhyme <br />Not countless years o’erthrow,— <br /> Not long array of time. <br /> <br />Paint, chisel, then, or write; <br /> But, that the work surpass, <br />With the hard fashion fight,— <br /> With the resisting mass.<br /><br />Austin Henry Dobson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ars-victrix/
