I flame to strike oppressors to the dust,
To crush the cruel, and confound the base,
To welcome insolence with calm disgust,
And brand the scoffer's forehead with disgrace.
NEVER go gloomily, man with a mind!
Hope is a better companion than fear,
Providence, ever benignant and kind,
Gives with a smile what you take with a tear;
All will be right,
Morning is ever the daughter of night,
All that was black will be all that is bright,
Cheerily, cheerily then! cheer up!
Many a foe is a friend in disguise,
Many a sorrow a blessing most true,
Helping the heart to be happy and wise,
With lore ever precious and joys ever new.
Stand in the van!
This is the bravest and cleverest plan,
Trusting in God, while you do what you can,
Cheerily, cheerily then! cheer up!
THE elm tree of old felt lonely and cold
When wintry winds blew high,
And, looking below, he saw in the snow
The ivy wandering nigh;
And he said, Come twine with those tendrils of thine
My scathed and frozen form,
For heart and hand together we'll stand,
And mock at the baffled storm,
And so when grief is withering the leaf,
And checking hope's young flower,
And frosts do bite with their teeth so white
In disappointment's hour,
Tho' it might o'erwhelm either ivy or elm
If alone each stood in the strife,
If heart and hand together they stand,
They may laugh at the troubles of life,
Ha, ha! Together.
I CANNOT move a mile upon this earth,
I could not, did I walk from end to end,
But there I find a heart of wit and worth,
Some gracious spirit to be hailed a friend:
O there are frequent angels unawares,
And many have I met upon my way,
Kind Christian souls, to make me rich with prayers,
Whilst in like coin their mercies I repay;
And oft the sun of praise hath lit mine eyes,
Generous praise and just encouragement,
From some who say I help them to be wise,
And teach them to be happy in content:
Ah soul, rejoice! for thou hast thickly sown
The living world with friendships all thine own.
IT were not well to vex thee with my praises,
Yet I am quick to read thy gifts aright,
Loving, sincere, and wise, in three best phases,
Young heart, I note thy characters of light;
Spirits are keen to make such instant guesses ;
For time is nothing to the Soul that lives;
Therefore my spirit thy good spirit blesses,
Therefore my Mind its cordial greeting gives, —
Its greeting? of a moment, sad to tell,
For all my greeting is a true Farewell!
WISELY for us within night's sable veil
God hides the future; and, if men turn pale
For dread distrusting, laughs their fear to scorn.
For thee, the present calmly order well:
All else as on a river's tide is borne,
Now flowing peaceful to the Tuscan sea
Down the mid-channel on a gentle swell; Now, as the hoarse, fierce mandate of the flood Stirs up the quiet stream, time-eaten rocks Go hurrying down, with houses, herds, and flocks. And echoes from the mountain and the wood. He stands alone, glad, self-possessed, and free, Who grateful for to-day can say, I live; To-morrow let my Father take or give:
As He may will, not I—with dark or light
Let God ordain the morrow, noon, or night.
He, even He, can never render vain
The past behind me; nor bring back again
What any transient hour has once made fact.
Fortune, rejoicing in each cruel act,
And playing frowardly a saucy game,
Dispenses changeful and uncertain fame.
Now kind to me, and now to some beside.
I praise her here: but if it should betide
She spreads her wings for flight, I hold no more
The good she gave, but in mine honest worth,
Clad like a man, go honorably forth
To seek the undowried portion of the poor.
ANOTHER year? another year!
Who dare depend on other years?
The judgment of this world is near,
And all its children faint for fears:
Famine, pestilence, and war,
Mixt with praises, prayers, and tears,
Civil strife and social jar,
Spurr'd by pen, and stirr'd by sword,
Herald Him who comes from far,
In Elijah's fiery car,
Our own returning Lord!
'Look around the nations quail!
All the elements of ill
Crowd like locusts on the gale,
And the dark horizon fill:
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