Two Consider a Glacier
Poemata LII
"If these hills could speak they would say "That this glacier invades, and a great weight "It bears upon their face, it must not stay "It is as a society without a state--" But the other, amused, watched the great ice Which frozen in frozen hills - frozen twice Sat snow-bedecked, inert as of late At length replied, in the way of advice: "Should glaciers move, that we may behold "The fury of uncalmed and busied rain "Which will carve a wound fast and untold "Into the hills and far upon this plain?" But the sky was perfect as a glass; No snow or sign of snow would seem to pass Its perfect blue, as though clouds a stain Upon an azure emptiness to everlast; But the first, as soon as silence came As if the other never spoke thus said: "Thus is all man, but free in name "But a mass to be moved, as if a thread "Pulled the crystal lattice apart "With a political push, a flood would start "And course, thus comes your holy dread "But come it must! Take this to heart."