Konx Om Pax

8o KONX OM PAX 0 fool! not thus the Intimate Gives up its secret to the soul. Truth flies beyond, inviolate, And slips beside the glancing goal. Who probes the body gains a fact, Yet leaves an equal fact behind; So gathering for the cataract Roll up the rapid waves of mind. Swift as the light at last they leap Into the chasm of despair; Of all their freshet force they keep But froth and smoke and empty air. 0 fool! to deem dissection truth And paint and patches but a blind! The enthusiasm of a youth Is worth the sage and cynic mind. 0 Buddha! couldst thou nowhere rest A pivot for the universe? Must all things be alike confessed Mere changes rung upon a curse? I swear by all the bliss of blue My Phryne with her powder on Is just as false—and just as true— As your disgusting skeleton. Each to his taste: if you prefer This loathly brooding on Decay, I call it Growth, and lovelier Than all the glamours of the day.