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. Eyes and mind intent.... And a stranger passed my way, ... The shadow grew and lengthened As he stopped to watch my play. He looked at the little horse, He looked at the winging bird; And ere I noticed his presence He touched me and spoke a word: "Hast thou the mind and will As thou hast hand and sight...? Follow me if thou hast And climb ... oh! climb to the height." IV So I followed him to his workshop And stayed there a year and a year Working under a master Who praised me and held me dear, Till at last a day arose When, taking my hand in his own, "You have my knowledge," he said, "And now you must stand alone." And tho' I sorrowed to leave him My heart was ready to sing, So first in praise of the gods I made for an offering (Even as does a shepherd His rustic altar of sods) Bright forms larger than human As mortals dream of the gods. Then, in my strange world-worship, The Tritons, Lords of the Sea, The creatures which haunt the woodland, Happy and shy and free, Nymphs and satyrs and fauns Who worship the great god Pan, And lastly the mighty heroes Who fashion the mind of man. V Thus thought I and thus wrought I, And my power grew greater still. I rose to the heights of passion And sounded the depths of will, Reaching out to the farthest Winnowing down to the last, Gazing into the future And diving into the past. Higher and ever higher Like an eagle soared my art And I praised the most high gods Who made and set me apart. And Prince and poet and painter Travelled to touch my hand, The minds which had toiled and suffered, The minds which could understand, Marvelling in my workshop At the shining forms they saw.... The children of my spirit Born of a higher law. VI But last on a day in summer (An evil day it seems) I thought, "I will fashion a woman As I have seen in dreams. I, who never loved woman That breathed and spoke and moved, Will fashion a noble statue To show what I could have loved; A glorious naked figure Untouched by time or fate, A symbol of all that might be And she shall be my mate. Not mate of my crooked body, Lean, misshapen and brown, (No longer I feared
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