Ambition, and Other Poems/Hunting Joy
Hunting Joy
How sad a face this Knowledge wears!
How strange is Truth, which none can doubt!
How easy is an Eden made,
How hard to keep the Serpent out!
How easy to create a Joy,
How hard to hold it safe and fast;
Since half the world would hunt it down,
As Fame, or Love, can prove at last.
I'll make my Joy a secret thing,
My face shall wear a mask of care;
And those who hunt a Joy to death,
Shall never know what sport is there!
How strange is Truth, which none can doubt!
How easy is an Eden made,
How hard to keep the Serpent out!
How easy to create a Joy,
How hard to hold it safe and fast;
Since half the world would hunt it down,
As Fame, or Love, can prove at last.
I'll make my Joy a secret thing,
My face shall wear a mask of care;
And those who hunt a Joy to death,
Shall never know what sport is there!