Ideal

When all my gentle friends had gone     I wandered in the night alone:     Beneath the green electric glare     I saw men pass with hearts of stone.     Yet still I heard them everywhere,     Those golden voices of the air:     "Friend, we will go to hell with thee,     Thy griefs, thy glories we will share,     And rule the earth, and bind the sea,     And set ten thousand devils free;--"     "What dost thou, stranger, at my side,     Thou gaunt old man accosting me?     Away, this is my night of pride!     On lunar seas my boat will glide     And I shall know the secret things."     The old man answered: "Woe betide!"     Said I "The world was made for kings:     To him who works and working sings     Come joy and majesty and power     And steadfast love with royal wings."     "O watch these fools that blink and cower,"     Said that wise man: "and every hour     A score is born, a dozen dies."     Said I: --"In London fades the flower;     But far away the bright blue skies     Shall watch my solemn walls arise,     And all the glory, all the grace     Of earth shall gather there, and eyes     Will shine like stars in that new place."     Said he. "Indeed of ancient race     Thou comest, with thy hollow scheme.     But sail, O architect of dream,     To lands beyond the Ocean stream.     Where are the islands of the blest,     And where Atlantis, where Theleme?"