For Tierra

It seems possible though unlikely
That a poem might conduce a little
To the increase of goodness in the world
Though just how remains obscure

For somehow the beautiful the true and the good
Sustain a broad equivalence
And in the aesthetic objective or moral sphere
Each gives reason for approval

But against all that there is only good or bad art
Not moral or immoral
So if the poem is to exert beneficence
Some interpenetration of the spheres must obtain

And horrible evil-doers sometimes love a poem
And all make judgments of the beautiful
As no doubt of the good and true
But each judgment judges of some thing

We need not ask how we come aware
Of the fragrant rose or the trusting child
For the stuff of the world asserts itself
Distinctly and with ineluctable emphasis