Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935). Collected Poems. 1921.

V. The Town Down the River

15. The Wise Brothers

SO long adrift, so fast aground,

What foam and ruin have we found—

We, the Wise Brothers?

Could heaven and earth be framed amiss,

That we should land in fine like this—

We, and no others?

Convoyed by what accursèd thing

Made we this evil reckoning—

We, the Wise Brothers?

And if the failure be complete,

Why look we forward from defeat—

We, and what others?

Blown far from harbors once in sight,

May we not, going far, go right,—

We, the Wise Brothers?

Companioned by the whirling spheres,

Have we no more than what appears—

We, and all others?