I held it truth with every look That it dreams away her own effect That the saints have thought themselves too high And begged the sinner for respect
They cried βgo fetch me water from the desert Force a drop out of this stone For nature now needs watering And cannot live by rain aloneβ
But the rain has ceased her effort And I loved the subtle agony What land is that which harbours Every height and depth of me?
But from grace to grace we lived and lived From truth to truth we died and died The common ground proves us ephemeral The highest deeds are misapplied
I danced with fools, the old, the ragged pasts Of worlds that hid themselves for shame And the beggar girl has played the tunes Of which only she will know the name