It Is Something to Have Wept

It is something to have wept as we have wept,

and something to have done as we have done;

it is something to have watched when all have slept,

and seen the stars which never see the sun.

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It is something to have smelt the mystic rose,

although it break and leave the thorny rods;

it is something to have hungered once as those

must hunger who have ate the bread of gods:

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To have known the things that from the weak are furled,

the fearful ancient passions, strange and high;

it is something to be wiser than the world,

and something to be older than the sky.

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Lo, and blessed are our ears for they have heard:

yea, blessed are our eyes for they have seen:

let the thunder break on human, beast, and bird,

and lightning. It is something to have been.