And from those flowers of Paradise

Scatter thou many a blessed seed,
Wherefrom an offspring may arise

To cheer the hearts and light the eyes
Of after-voyagers in their need.

They shall not fall on stony ground,
But, yielding all their hundred-fold,

Shall shed a peacefulness around,
Whose strengthening joy may not be told!
So shall thy name be blest of all,
And thy remembrance never die;
For of that seed shall surely fall
In the fair garden of Eternity.
Exult then in the nobleness

Of this thy work so holy,

Yet be not thou one jot the less
Humble and meek and lowly,

But let thine exultation be

The reverence of a bended knee;

And by thy life a poem write,

Built strongly day by day, —

And on the rock of Truth and Right

Its deep foundations lay.

VII.

It is thy DUTY! Guard it well! For unto thee hath much been given, And thou canst make this life a Hell, Or Jacob's-ladder up to Heaven.

Let not thy baptism in Life's wave

Make thee like him whom Homer sings, –

A sleeper in a living grave,

Callous and hard to outward things;

But open all thy soul and sense

To every blessèd influence

That from the heart of Nature springs : Then shall thy Life-flowers be to thee,

When thy best years are told,

As much as these have been to me,

Yea, more, a thousand-fold!

THE LOVER.

I.

Go roam the world from East to West,

Search every

land beneath the sky,

You cannot find a man so blest,

A king so powerful as I,

Though you should seek eternally.

II.

For I a gentle lover be,
Sitting at my loved-one's side;

She giveth her whole soul to me
Without a wish or thought of pride,

And she shall be my cherished bride.

III.

No show of gaudiness hath she,

She doth not flash with jewels rare ;

In beautiful simplicity

She weareth leafy garlands fair,

Or modest flowers in her hair.

IV.

Sometimes she dons a robe of green, Sometimes a robe of snowy white, But, in whatever garb she 's seen, It seems most beautiful and right, And is the loveliest to my sight.

Yet unto all she doth suffice,

None jealous is, and every one

Reads love and truth within her eyes,

And deemeth her his own dear prize.

VI.

And so thou art, Eternal Nature!

Yes, bride of Heaven, so thou art; Thou wholly lovest every creature, Giving to each no stinted part,

But filling every peaceful heart.