The Heavenly Potter
	43 For I remember stopping by the way To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay, And with its all-obliterated Tongue It murmur'd---"Gently, Brother, gently, pray" 44 Listen---a moment listen!---Of the same Poor Earth from which that Human Whisper came The luckless Mould in which Mankind was cast They did compose, and call'd him by the name. 45 And not a drop that from our Cups we throw For Earth to drink of, but may steal below To quench the fire of Anguish in some Eye There hidden---far beneath, and long ago. previous              next
Vedder's note: As Omar, in imagination, saw the potter forming the cup out of clay that once lived, so the artist sees in the potter an angelic workman remoulding the clay into some form which may hold a far better wine than that of the cup from which the poet drank