Hellas
To drift with every passion till my soul Is a stringed lute on which all winds can play, Is it for this that I have given away Mine ancient wisdom, and austere control?- Methinks my life is a twice-written scroll Scrawled over on some boyish holiday With idle songs for pipe and virelay Which do but mar the secret of the whole. Surely that was a time I might have trod The sunlit heights, and from life's dissonance Struck one clear chord to reach the ears of God; is that time dead? lo! with a little rod I did but touch the honey of romance- And must I lose a soul's inheritance?
Hellas - meaning Summary
A Soul's Inheritance Questioned
The speaker regrets exchanging disciplined wisdom for sensual indulgence and fleeting romancing. He likens his soul to a lute played by every wind, lamenting that youthful, trivial songs have obscured a deeper purpose. He imagines a lost opportunity to climb "sunlit heights" and strike a single clear chord that might reach God, and he questions whether savoring romance has cost him his soul's true inheritance.
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