I saw in dream the spirits unbegot, <br />Veiled, floating phantoms, lost in twilight space; <br />For one the hour had struck, he paused; the place <br />Rang with an awful Voice: <br />'Soul, choose thy lot! <br />Two paths are offered; that, in velvet-flower, <br />Slopes easily to every earthly prize. <br />Follow the multitude and bind thine eyes, <br />Thou and thy sons' sons shall have peace with power. <br />This narrow track skirts the abysmal verge, <br />Here shalt thou stumble, totter, weep and bleed, <br />All men shall hate and hound thee and thy seed, <br />Thy portion be the wound, the stripe, the scourge. <br />But in thy hand I place my lamp for light, <br />Thy blood shall be the witness of my Law, <br />Choose now for all the ages!' <br />Then I saw <br />The unveiled spirit, grown divinely bright, <br />Choose the grim path. He turned, I knew full well <br />The pale, great martyr-forehead shadowy-curled, <br />The glowing eyes that had renounced the world, <br />Disgraced, despised, immortal Israel.<br /><br />Emma Lazarus<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-choice-41/
