Read "The Revealer" by Edwin Arlington Robinson online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
(ROOSEVELT)
He turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. And the men of the city said unto him, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? - Judges, 14.
THE PALMS of Mammon have disowned
The gift of our complacency; / The bells of ages have intoned
Again their rhythmic irony; / And from the shadow, suddenly,
‘Mid echoes of decrepit rage, / The seer of our necessity
Confronts a Tyrian heritage.
Equipped with unobscured intent
He smiles with lions at the gate,
Acknowledging the compliment
Like one familiar with his fate; / The lions, having time to wait, / Perceive a small cloud in the skies, / Whereon they look, disconsolate,
With scared, reactionary eyes.
A shadow falls upon the land, -
They sniff, and they are like to roar; / For they will never understand
What they have never seen before.
They march in order to the door, / Not knowing the best thing to seek, / Nor caring if the gods restore
The lost composite of the Greek.
The shadow fades, the light arrives,
And ills that were concealed are seen; / The combs of long-defended hives
Now drip dishonored and unclean; / No Nazarite or Nazarene