go
XXXV
“Yea!” quoth the knight, “TI rede the spell.
This Beast is the Unknowable.
I seek in Heaven, I seek in Hell;
Ever he mocks me. Yet, methinks,
I have the riddle of the Sphinx.
For were I keener than the lynx
I should not see within my mind
One thought that is not in its kind
In sooth That Beast that lurks behind :
And in my quest his questing seems
The authentic echo of my dreams,
The proper thesis of my themes!
Iknow him? Still he answers: No!
I know him not? Maybe—and lo!
He is the one sole thing I know!
Nay! who knows not is different
From him that knows. Then be content ;
Thou canst not alter the event!