The Ministers of Law

Read "The Ministers of Law" at The Eldritch Dark:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/poetry/576/the-ministers-of-law

Clark Ashton Smith (CAS) often speaks to the theme of human vanity, the tendency of our species to drape ourselves in grandiloquence.  CAS was less then impressed by this stance,  and given his cosmic outlook, a poem like "The Ministers of Law" leaves little room for doubt:


Thou travelest brief ways that end and sink—
Urged by the hurrying planets; and the vast,
Prone-rushing constellations of the Law
Thunder and press behind thee at the brink.


I enjoy this aspect of CAS' writings (both in prose and poetry) tremendously, at least partly because I find myself in philosophical alignment with his own views.  That CAS also possessed the artistry to render these convictions with the beautiful music of his words makes the reading experience all the more worthwhile.