Poem by William Watson

Art Maxims

Often ornateness
Goes with greatness;
Oftener felicity
Comes of simplicity.

Talent that's cheapest
Affects singularity.
Thoughts that dive deepest
Rise radiant in clarity.

Life is rough:
Sing smoothly, O Bard.
Enough, enough,
To have found life hard.

No record Art keeps
Of her travail and throes.
There is toil on the steeps,—
On the summits, repose.

1. On Landor's “Hellenics”
2. Scentless Flow'rs I Bring Thee
3. In Laleham Churchyard
4. Mensis Lacrimarum
5. The Blind Summit

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