- When Earth’s last picture is painted, and
the tubes are twisted and dried
- When the oldest colors have faded, and the youngest critic
has died,
- We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it—lie down
for an aeon or two,
- ’Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall set us to
work anew!
- And those that were good will be happy: they
shall sit in a golden chair;
- They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of
comet’s hair;
- They shall find real saints to draw from—Magdalene,
Peter, and Paul;
- They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired
at all!
- And only the Master shall praise us, and only
the Master shall blame;
- And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for
fame;
- But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his
separate star,
- Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as
They Are!
