Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Oh, Life!

Oh, life! 'tis in an hour like this, with soul beat down and held to knowledge,—as wild, untutored things are forced to feed—Oh, life! 'tis now that I do feel the latent horror in thee! but 'tis not me! that horror's out of me! and with the soft feeling of the human
in me, yet will I try to fight ye, ye grim, phantom futures! Stand by me, hold me, bind me, ye blessed influences!  --Moby-Dick, Dusk
Venus-pacific-levelled
Oh, Life! thou unsought mystery, that springs from nothingness, to grasp at Eternity. Eternity! Awful shadow! incomprehensible Dread! On whose black threshold the spirit shrinks shuddering, — till Hope comes, — like the star in the east.
--Scenes Beyond the Western Border, September 1852; and
Scenes and Adventures in the Army 

1 comment:

  1. "Oh, Life! Here I am, proud as Greek god, and yet standing debtor to this blockhead for a bone to stand on! Cursed be that mortal inter-indebtedness which will not do away with ledgers. I would be free as air; and I'm down in the whole world's books. I am so rich, I could have given bid for bid with the wealthiest Praetorians at the auction of the Roman empire (which was the world's); and yet I owe for the flesh in the tongue I brag with." (Ahab and the Carpenter)

    --RJO

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