Reflection demands
    of its practitioners, like poetry,
    like painting, dance, or ev’ry art,
    pain and toil, labor and sacrifice
        for—
    mind, like limb
    like bow-stroke on a violin, or brush-stroke on a page
    is weak by nature: dull, dim, faint
        for—
    all our faculties, like autumn leaves,
    like ancien régime, or crumbled-down façade,
    are fallen, troubled, and woe’d
        so—
    loose the mind from surly bond!
    set intellect free by striving hard!
    free from ruinous decay, and
    free from foolish sluggery
    with ev’ry breath sing higher note
    by ev’ry step climb further up
        and—
    so deliver to the self
    what wisdom may be found.