The Great Experiment

"Is that all there is to it," he asks,
"no more conjecture or controversy?
Don't think I could go through it,
I couldn't live with the memory.
Now is the hour, it comes eventually;
how great the power as it falls on me!"
He's raising his sense of occasion to the limit -
(The big moment is coming up.)
Practised, his sense of evasion... or is it?
(No sidestep or dummy run.)
Craving a certain indulgence - would you give it?
Would you give it in time?

Treading water, making waves
from the cradle to the grave;
home by a whisker - close shaves!
I'm waiting,
what I said I meant:
no faking
The Great Experiment.

Near the end of the reel now,
he's hanging on by his fingertips.
He knows how it feels;
at last the kiss of unearthly lips.
Now is the hour to get a tighter grip.
How great the power as the tide begins to rip!

I'm waiting -
no faking
The Great Experiment.