PREVIOUS NEXT FIRST Trust me to bring you! said the Sea...
XXXV38
Thomas Eakins's Max Schmitt In A Single Scull
Trust me to bring you! said the Sea
then buried him below.
I can convey you! claimed the earth
planting him there to grow.

Trust me to lead you! whispered Wind
& around & around he went.
Trust me to guide you! said th'Sky
& sunk to starry Argument.

Many the voices that held him in thrall
(as if to advise or help)
But only when he ignores them all
does Man come into himself

Velazquez's Forge of Vulcan

^{38} All four "directions" are compatible: A man may be "brought" and "conveyed," "led" and "guided" at the same time --they are all distractions, of course, as the poem says: The protagonist is "brought" to the grave; "conveyed" in-place; "led" around and around in circles; and "guided" into... (perhaps) Paradox (when what really concerns Man is that self-understanding which may allow him to grow from the human condition he carries like a turtle shell on his back). No doubt it's personally frustrating to see one's nature as something else --but eventually the brain brings into focus its important thoughts, and then Realization! @

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