There is within the eye of man the thing which he doth see about this earth;
And of these things he cries unto himself that he is greater yet than all of these.

And so he seeks with hand or tongue
Or holds the sculptor’s chisel,
That he may carve the thing whereof he sees;
Or touch with feathered strokes of brush to paint the picture of his world and form.

The mason with the brick, or farmer with the plough,
In seeking yet to bring unto himself these things which he sees.

Yea though with all of this,
And though his strife is long and mighty,
He cometh soon upon the place;
And all of this is naught but dust.

And so his Spirit riseth up,
And in the rising finds thereof
All things which were born, not from strife

But added only from his God.

by Ernest L. Norman

Excerpt from The Elysium