I Stood Musing in a Black World
I Stood Musing in a Black World - meaning Summary
Seeking Meaning Amid Crowds
The speaker watches a restless crowd and feels lost in a dark, uncertain world. The crowd insists there is a visible goal or revelation to follow, and the speaker briefly pursues that promised radiance with eager effort. The vision disappears, leaving pain and disillusionment. The crowd returns to its certainty and mocks the speaker’s failure, leaving a sense that communal insistence on fixed answers can deepen individual despair when those answers prove illusory.
Read Complete AnalysesI stood musing in a black world, Not knowing where to direct my feet. And I saw the quick stream of men Pouring ceaselessly, Filled with eager faces, A torrent of desire. I called to them, "Where do you go? What do you see?" A thousand voices called to me. A thousand fingers pointed. "Look! look! There!" I know not of it. But, lo! In the far sky shone a radiance Ineffable, divine -- A vision painted upon a pall; And sometimes it was, And sometimes it was not. I hesitated. Then from the stream Came roaring voices, Impatient: "Look! look! There!" So again I saw, And leaped, unhesitant, And struggled and fumed With outspread clutching fingers. The hard hills tore my flesh; The ways bit my feet. At last I looked again. No radiance in the far sky, Ineffable, divine; No vision painted upon a pall; And always my eyes ached for the light. Then I cried in despair, "I see nothing! Oh, where do I go?" The torrent turned again its faces: "Look! look! There!" And at the blindness of my spirit They screamed, "Fool! fool! fool!"
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