Nihil Humani Alienum

In the loud waking world I come and go,
And yet the twofold gates of dreams are mine;
I have seen the battle-lightnings round me shine,
And won the stillness of Hawaiian snow;
The votary’s sad surrender do I know;
Joy have I had of passion and of wine;
Nor shines the light of poesy less divine
Though science’s white cressets round me glow.
Yet never in me are these things at feud;
They make one sum of rapture; in my heart
Their memories rise and glow, a living good;
Dreams, banquets, battles, prayers, carousals, art,
All form for me a vital brotherhood;
From nothing human let me hold apart!