12 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



of what the Lord will do are based upon his conception of what the 

 Lord has already done. 



In the years that have been, in the rocks I have shown ye a record 

 And a ledger in layers of chalk; 



I have shown ye a book and a diary faithful in caverns, 

 An account in the depths of the earth. 

 When ye swayed to and fro as a jelly in ooze of the ocean, 

 I foresaw, I determined, I planned. 

 And I brooded on primal ooze as a mother broodeth, 

 And slime as a cradle I watched. 



When ye hung on the branches of trees, when ye swung and ye chattered, 

 I made ready, prepared and decreed 

 , That in years that should be I would bring ye with patience through aeons, 

 From slime through the forest to bliss; 



I would wean ye from climbings and fury to wings and to wisdom. 

 From dark sea-stupor to life. 



So the poet looks forward to man's higher triumphs under the guiding 

 of the all-seeing and all-doing, who is likewise the all-kind. The 

 waves of the ether shall be man's wheels; the tempest shall be sent 

 on his errands. Matter and distance shall be no more. The illusion 

 of death shall pass. 



In that day shall a man out of uttermost India whisper 

 And in England his friend shall hear; 

 And a maid in an EngUsh meadow have sight of her lover 

 Who wanders in far Cathay. 



And the dead whom ye loved, ye shall walk with, and 

 speak with the lost. 



But even in this death-conquering glory the spirit of mortals, now 

 become immortal, is forbidden to be proud, in memory of their lowly 

 origin and fearsome development. 



Yet remember the ancient things, the things that have been. 

 And meekly inherit the earth! 



For the moment we are not concerned with the unpleasant realization 

 that parts of the poem, with its great potentialities, are dangerously, 

 almost desperately, prosaic. Mr. Phillips is still a true poet, from 

 whom we have a right to expect much, unless his strength fails. We 



