Thy greatest knew thee, Mother Earth; unsoured <br />He knew thy sons. He probed from hell to hell <br />Of human passions, but of love deflowered <br />His wisdom was not, for he knew thee well. <br />Thence came the honeyed corner at his lips, <br />The conquering smile wherein his spirit sails <br />Calm as the God who the white sea-wave whips, <br />Yet full of speech and intershifting tales, <br />Close mirrors of us: thence had he the laugh <br />We feel is thine: broad as ten thousand beeves <br />At pasture! thence thy songs, that winnow chaff <br />From grain, bid sick Philosophy's last leaves <br />Whirl, if they have no response-they enforced <br />To fatten Earth when from her soul divorced.<br /><br />George Meredith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-spirit-of-shakespeare/
