Madison Julius Cawein

Prototypes

 Whether it be that we in letters trace
 The pure exactness of a wood bird's strain,
 And name it song; or with the brush attain
 The high perfection of a wildflower's face;
 Or mold in difficult marble all the grace
 We know as man; or from the wind and rain
 Catch elemental rapture of refrain
 And mark in music to due time and place:
 The aim of Art is Nature; to unfold
 Her truth and beauty to the souls of men
 In close suggestions; in whose forms is cast
 Nothing so new but 'tis long eons old;
 Nothing so old but 'tis as young as when
 The mind conceived it in the ages past.