I <br /> <br />He leaped. With none to hinder, <br />Of Aetna's fiery scoriae <br />In the next vomit-shower, made he <br />A more peculiar cinder. <br />And this great Doctor, can it be, <br />He left no saner recipe <br />For men at issue with despair? <br />Admiring, even his poet owns, <br />While noting his fine lyric tones, <br />The last of him was heels in air! <br /> <br />II <br /> <br />Comes Reverence, her features <br />Amazed to see high Wisdom hear, <br />With glimmer of a faunish leer, <br />One mock her pride of creatures. <br />Shall such sad incident degrade <br />A stature casting sunniest shade? <br />O Reverence! let Reason swim; <br />Each life its critic deed reveals; <br />And him reads Reason at his heels, <br />If heels in air the last of him!<br /><br />George Meredith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/empdeocles/
