0091 The Scholar - A Dutch Portrait

The scholar, in his book-lined study, sits, walled in by printed thought in black and white; silent; by a pool of lamplight lit; now still in reading, or now drawn to write; inaudible, the music of his mind, invisible, that dazzling light, his thought; unknown, the destiny of human kind; unwrit, the future glories to be sought; he like a human hour-glass: single grains passing into future mind from past; and in his presence, all Creation reigns, the history of the world from first to last. this secret glory, scholars are allowed; so fragile; mortal; subtle; noble; proud.