OH ye who hold the written clue | |
| To all save all unwritten things, | |
| And, half a league behind, pursue | |
| The accomplished Fact with flouts and flings, | |
| Look! To your knee your baby brings | 5 |
| The oldest tale since Earth began— | |
| The answer to your worryings: | |
| “Once on a time there was a Man.” | |
| |
| He, single-handed, met and slew | |
| Magicians, Armies, Ogres, Kings. | 10 |
| He lonely ’mid his doubting crew— | |
| “In all the loneliness of wings”— | |
| He fed the flame, he filled the springs, | |
| He locked the ranks, he launched the van | |
| Straight at the grinning Teeth of Things. | 15 |
| “Once on a time there was a Man.” | |
| |
| The peace of shocked Foundations flew | |
| Before his ribald questionings. | |
| He broke the Oracles in two, | |
| And bared the paltry wires and strings. | 20 |
| He headed desert wanderings; | |
| He led his soul, his cause, his clan | |
| A little from the ruck of Things. | |
| “Once on a time there was a Man.” | |
| |
| Thrones, Powers, Dominions block the view | 25 |
| With episodes and underlings— | |
| The meek historian deems them true | |
| Nor heeds the song that Clio sings— | |
| The simple central truth that stings | |
| The mob to boo, the priest to ban; | 30 |
| Things never yet created things— | |
| “Once on a time there was a Man.” | |
| |
| A bolt is fallen from the blue. | |
| A wakened realm full circle swings | |
| Where Dothan’s dreamer dreams anew | 35 |
| Of vast and farborne harvestings; | |
| And unto him an Empire clings | |
| That grips the purpose of his plan. | |
| My Lords, how think you of these things? | |
| Once—in our time—is there a Man? | 40 |
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