but what man Would do."--`Saul', v. 296.

8.

What is he but a brute
Whose flesh hath soul to suit,
Whose spirit works lest arms and legs want play?
To man, propose this test--
Thy body at its best,
How far can that project thy soul on its lone way?

--
St. 8. Thy body at its best, How far, etc.: "In our flesh grows
the branch of this life, in our soul it bears fruit."--`Saul', v. 151.

9.

Yet gifts should prove their use:
I own the Past profuse
Of power each side, perfection every turn:
Eyes, ears took in their dole,
Brain treasured up the whole;
Should not the heart beat once "How good to live and learn"?

--
St. 9. the Past: he means the past of his own life.

10.

Not once beat "Praise be Thine!
I see the whole design,
I, who saw Power, see now Love perfect too:
Perfect I call Thy plan:
Thanks that I was a man!
Maker, remake, complete,--I trust what Thou shalt do!"

--
St. 10. The original reading of the 3d verse was, "I, who saw Power,
SHALL see Love perfect too." The change has cleared up a difficulty.
The All-Great is now to me, in my age, the All-Loving too.
Maker, remake, complete: there seems to be an anticipation here
of the metaphor of the Potter's wheel, in stanzas 25-32, and see Jer. 18:4.

11.

For pleasant is this flesh;
Our soul, in its rose-mesh
Pulled ever to the earth, still yearns for rest:
Would we some prize might hold
To match those manifold
Possessions of the brute,--gain most, as we did best!

12.

Let us not always say
"Spite of this flesh to-day
I strove, made head, gained ground upon the whole!"
As the bird wings and sings,
Let us cry "All good things
Are ours, nor soul helps flesh more, now, than flesh helps soul!"

13.

Therefore I summon age
To grant youth's heritage,
Life's struggle having so far reached its term:
Thence shall I pass, approved
A man, for aye removed
From the developed brute; a God though in the germ.

--
St. 13. Thence shall I pass, etc.: It will be observed that
here and in some of the following stanzas, the Rabbi speaks
in the person of youth; so youth should say to itself.

14.

And I shall thereupon
Take rest, ere I be gone
Once more on my adventure brave and new