Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother / With noise and fog the flowering of the spirit. - Stephen Spender

Paul Valery speaks of the 'une ligne donnee' of a poem. One line is given to the poet by God or by nature, the rest he has to discover for himself.

Paint here no draped despairs, no saddening clouds Where the soul rests, proclaims eternity. But let the wrong cry out as raw as wounds This Time forgets and never heals, far less transcends.

For I had expected always Some brightness to hold in trust, Some final innocence To save from dust