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Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935). Collected Poems. 1921.

VII. The Three Taverns

18. Discovery

WE told of him as one who should have soared

And seen for us the devastating light

Whereof there is not either day or night,

And shared with us the glamour of the Word

That fell once upon Amos to record

For men at ease in Zion, when the sight

Of ills obscured aggrieved him and the might

Of Hamath was a warning of the Lord.

Assured somehow that he would make us wise,

Our pleasure was to wait; and our surprise

Was hard when we confessed the dry return

Of his regret. For we were still to learn

That earth has not a school where we may go

For wisdom, or for more than we may know.