Living
We Are Not Worse at Once
From Songs from the Waverley Novels (Poetical Works, Oxford 1904)
Living
WE are not worse at once : the course of evil
Begins so slowly, and from such slight source,
An infant's hand might stem its breach with clay ;
But let the stream get deeper, and philosophy --
Ay, and religion too,-- shall strive in vain
To turn the headlong torrent.
✦ ✦ ✦
Codex Note
From The Fortunes of Nigel (1822)
Cite this poem
MLA
Scott, Walter. “We Are Not Worse at Once.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/scott/243/.
Chicago
Scott, Walter. “We Are Not Worse at Once.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/scott/243/.
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