| Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935). Collected Poems. 1921. |
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| III. Captain Craig, Etc. |
| 7. The Sage |
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| FOREGUARDED and unfevered and serene, | |
| Back to the perilous gates of Truth he went— | |
| Back to fierce wisdom and the Orient, | |
| To the Dawn that is, that shall be, and has been: | |
| Previsioned of the madness and the mean, | 5 |
| He stood where Asia, crowned with ravishment, | |
| The curtain of Love’s inner shrine had rent, | |
| And after had gone scarred by the Unseen. | |
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| There at his touch there was a treasure chest, | |
| And in it was a gleam, but not of gold; | 10 |
| And on it, like a flame, these words were scrolled: | |
| “I keep the mintage of Eternity. | |
| Who comes to take one coin may take the rest, | |
| And all may come—but not without the key.” | |
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