The choicest gems must polish bear,

And metals must be purged from earth,

Before a lustre they can wear

That tells of their intrinsic worth.

The brain requires friction of thought,

Obtained through contact with the world,

With which may skillfully be wrought

The mental gems research unfurled.

Who builds alone on Memory

Will find he lacks a needed force

To fire and set the spirit free,

And move him onward in the course

That tends to lead him by a way

Whose goal is sure, complete success,

But wanting such, can but display

Chaotic mass of nothingness.

[Pg 33]

Let Memory and Reason wed,

Their product then may fully know

The food on which great minds are fed,

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