I hope--what hope I not ?-vague things I dread-as vague imaginings, Fame's sunshine, fortune's golden dews O Mystery, master-key to life, And tempt thy perilous power; See, on my neighbour's threshold stands Yon careless common man, Bearing, perchance, in those coarse hands -My Being's altered plan! My germs of pleasure, or of pain, Of trouble, or of peace, May there lie thick as drops of rain Distilled from Gideon's fleeee! Who knoweth? may not loves be dead,— Who knoweth? may not wealth be fled, Or who can tell if Fortune's hour Ah, cold Reality!-in spite Of hopes, and endless chance, Another day forlorn : And thus I wend upon my ways To watch another morn. Cease, babbler!-let those doubtings cease: What? should a son of heaven Mix With the pure manna of his Peace up this faithless leaven? Not so!-for in the hands of God, And in none earthly will, Abides alike my staff, and rod, My good, and seeming ill. SOCIETY. ALAS, we do but act; we are not free : My trammelled spirit strives to break, in vain : ON AN INFANT. LOOK on this babe; and let thy pride take heed, Thy pride of manhood, intellect, or fame, That thou despise him not: for he indeed, And such as he, in spirit and heart the same, Are God's own children in that kingdom bright Where purity is praise,-and where before The FATHER'S throne, triumphant evermore, The ministering angels, sons of light, Stand unreproved; because they offer there, Mix'd with the Mediator's hallowing pray'r, The innocence of babes in Christ like this: O guardian Spirit, be my child thy care, Lead him to GOD, obedience and bliss, To GOD, O fostering cherub, thine and his! EPILOGUE. ARE there no sympathies, no loves between us? us, Nor given thee words that warp from right to wrong: And if, at times, my too triumphant song Hath seem'd self-praise,—doth it indeed demean us That when a man feels hotly at his heart The quick spontaneous fire of thoughts and words, He will not play the hypocrite's ill part, Flinging aside the meed his Mind affords? VALE. LONDON: PRINTED BY G. J. PALMER, SAVOY STREET, STRAND, |