I Have Lived With Shades

I     I have lived with shades so long,     And talked to them so oft,     Since forth from cot and croft     I went mankind among,      That sometimes they      In their dim style      Will pause awhile      To hear my say; II     And take me by the hand,     And lead me through their rooms     In the To-be, where Dooms     Half-wove and shapeless stand:      And show from there      The dwindled dust      And rot and rust      Of things that were. III     "Now turn," spake they to me     One day: "Look whence we came,     And signify his name     Who gazes thence at thee." -      - "Nor name nor race      Know I, or can,"      I said, "Of man      So commonplace. IV     "He moves me not at all;     I note no ray or jot     Of rareness in his lot,     Or star exceptional.      Into the dim      Dead throngs around      He'll sink, nor sound      Be left of him." V     "Yet," said they, "his frail speech,     Hath accents pitched like thine -     Thy mould and his define     A likeness each to each -      But go! Deep pain      Alas, would be      His name to thee,      And told in vain!"     Feb. 2, 1899.