Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!dartvax!betsy
From: betsy@dartvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.poems
Subject: News from the Sibyl
Message-ID: <250@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 29-Sep-83 09:28:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: dartvax.250
Posted: Thu Sep 29 09:28:26 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 30-Sep-83 11:29:25 EDT
Lines: 24

News from the Sibyl
 
Nothing that's made beneath the jealous moon,
She said, is free from every seam and strain.
Who hunts his dreams must always waken soon
To find his shaft has fallen short again.
 
You find this new?  It's older than the day
The warlike Persian tore his heart to find
He'd conquered every islet, stream, and bay
Which man had seen.  How could he force his mind
 
To grapple with his lifelong battle's end
When he had never wanted what he'd won?
The struggle, not the goal, had been his friend.
How could he call this misformed monster 'son'?
 
It must be so.  For every dream you snare
And risk your soul to hold the thing complete
You'll watch its essence melt into the air
And leave but shattered remnants at your feet.
 
Yet you must try.  But keep this understood:
The best you make must yet be less than good.