Art

by Herman Melville

　　

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In placid hours well-pleased we dreamOf many a brave unbodied scheme.But form to lend, pulsed life create,What unlike things must meet and mate:A flame to melt—a wind to freeze;Sad patience—joyous energies;Humility—yet pride and scorn;Instinct and study; love and hate;Audacity—reverence. These must mate,And fuse with Jacob's mystic heart,To wrestle with the angel—Art.

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