Man, The

A man said to the universe,
"Sir, I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."

Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane was a prolific American poet, novelist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novel "The Red Badge of Courage," which depicts the psychological turmoil of a Civil War soldier. Despite his short life and career, Crane's innovative style and realistic approach have had a lasting influence on American literature. He also wrote notable works such as "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" and numerous war-themed poems. Crane's work is characterized by naturalism and a keen observation of the human condition.

Stephen Crane

English

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A Plaint To Man

When you slowly emerged from the den of Time,
And gained percipience as you grew,
And fleshed you fair out of shapeless slime,

Wherefore, O Man, did there come to you
The unhappy need of creating me -
A form like your own for praying to?

My virtue, power, utility,
Within my maker must all abide,
Since none in myself can ever be,

One thin as a shape on a lantern-slide
Shown forth in the dark upon some dim sheet,
And by none but its showman vivified.

"Such a forced device," you may say, "is meet
For easing a loaded heart at whiles:
Man needs to conceive of a mercy-seat

Somewhere above the gloomy aisles
Of this wailful world, or he could not bear
The irk no local hope beguiles."

- But since I was framed in your first ...

Thomas Hardy

I Am

I know not whence I came,
    I know not whither I go;
But the fact stands clear that I am here
    In this world of pleasure and woe.
And out of the mist and murk,
    Another truth shines plain.
It is in my power each day and hour
    To add to its joy or its pain.

I know that the earth exists,
    It is none of my business why.
I cannot find out what it's all about,
    I would but waste time to try.
My life is a brief, brief thing,
    I am here for a little space.
And while I stay I would like, if I may,
    To brighten and better the place.

The trouble, I think, with us all
    Is the lack of a high conceit.
If each man thought he was sent to this spot
    To make it a bit more sweet,
How soon we could gladden the world.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I Am

I know not whence I came,
    I know not whither I go;
But the fact stands clear that I am here
    In this world of pleasure and woe.
And out of the mist and murk
    Another truth shines plain -
It is my power each day and hour
    To add to its joy or its pain.

I know that the earth exists,
    It is none of my business why;
I cannot find out what it's all about,
    I would but waste time to try.
My life is a brief, brief thing,
    I am here for a little space,
And while I stay I would like, if I may,
    To brighten and better the place.

The trouble, I think, with us all
    Is the lack of a high conceit.
If each man thought he was sent to this spot
    To make it a bit more sweet,
How soon we could gladden the world,

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Now List To My Morning's Romanza

Now list to my morning's romanza - I tell the signs of the Answerer;
To the cities and farms I sing, as they spread in the sunshine before me.

A young man comes to me bearing a message from his brother;
How shall the young man know the whether and when of his brother?
Tell him to send me the signs.

And I stand before the young man face to face, and take his right hand in my left hand, and his left hand in my right hand,
And I answer for his brother, and for men, and I answer for him that answers for all, and send these signs.

Him all wait for - him all yield up to - his word is decisive and final,
Him they accept, in him lave, in him perceive themselves, as amid light,
Him they immerse, and he immerses them.

Beautiful women, the haughtiest nations, laws, the landsca...

Walt Whitman

Assurances

I need no assurances--I am a man who is preoccupied, of his own Soul;
I do not doubt that from under the feet, and beside the hands and face I am cognizant of, are now looking faces I am not cognizant of--calm and actual faces;
I do not doubt but the majesty and beauty of the world are latent in any iota of the world;
I do not doubt I am limitless, and that the universes are limitless-- in vain I try to think how limitless;
I do not doubt that the orbs, and the systems of orbs, play their swift sports through the air on purpose--and that I shall one day be eligible to do as much as they, and more than they;
I do not doubt that temporary affairs keep on and on, millions of years;
I do not doubt interiors have their interiors, and exteriors have their exteriors--and that the eye-sight has another eye-sight, and...

Walt Whitman

Man

In his own image the Creator made,
His own pure sunbeam quickend thee, O man!
Thou breathing dial! since thy day began
The present hour was ever markd with shade!

Walter Savage Landor