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 />Henry Austin Dobson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ars-victrix-2/
