THE SOUL'S CONSOLATION

For every man, the tangled threads of life
Reveal one leading strand; one Gordian Knot
A legendary intricate knot; metaphorically, an extremely difficult or unsolvable problem.
Secures that clue. However much we strive
To twine and untwine the labyrinthine mesh,
Tracing it with a patience that is pitiful—I think—
To unseen eyes that may watch from anywhere
This grand Tantalian maze and mystery,
Referring to Tantalus; a situation where something desired is always just out of reach, creating a maze of perpetual frustration.
Line after line until no line is left
But all is twisted into a more fantastic shape,
At which our baffled ingenuity
Returns upon itself—a useless effort—
Still, the leading thread that Fate assigned
At every man’s birth remains within his hands,
Because the knot that ties it is himself.
And is there any man, however far
He ventures down into the depths of his own nature,
Who has yet unraveled his own mystery—
The unknown world of man within himself?
There is only one way: it can be cut,
But that is to destroy the knot, not to solve it.
It is much better to sit amidst the night
And try to read the doubtful message of the stars,
To place what vague interpretation we can
On half-caught voices speaking in the wind!
Better to wait until a wiser hand
Unties the knot and lets the mesh fall down!
Perhaps the secret will finally be revealed,
And so bring order to the temple of the mind
That we will be ready when the hour arrives
For revelation and the light we seek—
So that no inner crookedness or twist
Prevents the soul from corresponding
With the perfect order that the soul has dreamed.
O, let us be set right and made true within,
And let us stand clearly before the mystery,
Opening ourselves in everything to gain the light;
And if the light should delay, let us remain
Patient and purified, and not a day too late,
But prepared and ready, alert and strong.
The cords may require some pulling at the end
To straighten them; the parting veil may need
Some happy violence to cast it aside
Forever; and the light beyond may
Ask something of the boldness of the eye
Which meets it first. And if indeed there is
God’s wisdom hidden in the mystery,