Ellis W.A. - Occult Phenomena

“Occult Phenomena;” the parrot-cry
Goes forth to-day just as it went of old.
The hard harsh sounds that, tune them as we may,
Will never soften down to Poetry.

“An evil generation seeketh for
A sign;” adulterous, in that ’twould mate
Things of the Spirit with the things of Sense,
And bastardize the seed of living Truth.

What sign, howe’er convincing to the brain,
Will long outlive the wonder of the hour?
For Doubt will thirst again, where Doubt it was
That sought its slaking in the moment’s proof.

What sign will turn the wicked from his ways,
When he can watch the rising of the Sun
Unmov’d, the order’d march of Night and Day,
The mystery of Life and Death and Sleep?

An evil generation seeketh for
A sign, but unto it there shall be sent
No Sign but that of Jonah when he cried
To Nineveh to cleanse its heart – and see.

W. Ashton Ellis.

Footnotes