To learn the Transport by the Pain — Homer

To learn the Transport by the Pain 1
As Blind Men learn the sun!
To die of thirst-suspecting
That Brooks in Meadows run!

To stay the homesick-homesick feet 5
Upon a foreign shore-
Haunted by native lands, the while-
And blue-beloved air!

This is the Sovereign Anguish! 9
This-the signal woe!
These are the patient "Laureates"
Whose voices-trained-below-

Ascend in ceaseless Carol-13
Inaudible, indeed,
To us-the duller scholars
Of the Mysterious Bard!
(F.178/J.167)
[1–4] Blind, thirst:: a hint on Homer, a blind man who felt the world with pain and thirst for knowledge.
[5–8] homesick, foreign, native lands:: Homer as a wandering minstrel.
[11] Laureates:: a hint on poets.
[15, 16] scholars, Mysterious Bard:: Homer is a legend with very little record about him.