Young Adventure (1918), The Quality of Courage
Context: I stumbled, slipped... and all was gone
That I had gained. Once more I lay
Before the long bright Hell of ice.
And still the light was far away.
There was red mist before my eyes
Or I could tell you how I went
Across the swaying firmament,
A glittering torture of cold stars,
And how I fought in Titan wars...
And died... and lived again upon
The rack... and how the horses strain
When their red task is nearly done... I only know that there was Pain,
Infinite and eternal Pain.
And that I fell — and rose again.
Source: Young Adventure (1918), The Quality of Courage
“Only I discern
Infinite passion, and the pain
Of finite hearts that yearn.”
Two in the Campagna, xii.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Eternity and pain, pain and eternity — they are the only two things of which the universe is made.”
Source: War in Heaven (1998), p. 173
"Philomela" (1853), st. 3
“We know there's going to be nothing but pain, but we go back again and again.”
Source: The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror
“And so it fell upon a day,
(That is, it never rose again)”
Lays of Sorrow No.1
The Rectory Umbrella
“And in an infinite regress:
Tell me, why is the pain of birth
lighter borne than the pain of death?”
Divers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divers_(Joanna_Newsom_album) (2015)
