WHY NOT?

 Why not look forward far as Plato looked

And see the beauty of our coming life,

As he saw that which might be ours to-day?

If his soul, then, could rise so far beyond

The brutal¹ average of that old time,

When icy peaks of art stood sheer and high

In fat black valleys where the helot toiled²;

If he, from that, could see so far ahead,

Could forecast days when Love and Justice both

Should watch the cradle of a healthy child,

And Wisdom walk with Beauty and pure Joy

In all the common ways of daily life,—

Then may not we, from great heights hardly won,

Bright hills of liberty, broad plains of peace,

And flower-sweet valleys of warm human love,

Still broken by the chasms³ of despair

Where Poverty and Ignorance and Sin

Pollute the air of all,—why not, from this,

Look on as Plato looked, and see the day

When his Republic and our Heaven, joined,

Shall make life what God meant it?

Ay, we do!

1 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

2 toiled   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• They toiled up the hill in the blazing sun. 他们冒着炎炎烈日艰难地一步一步爬上山冈。
• He toiled all day long but earned very little. 他整天劳碌但挣得很少。

3 chasms   

裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别

参考例句：

• She found great chasms in her mathematics and physics. 她觉得她的数学课和物理课的知识还很欠缺。
• The sectarian chasms remain deep, the wounds of strife raw. 各派别的分歧巨大，旧恨新仇交织。