Page:Poems Cook.djvu/400

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THE DREAMER.
  The charm, in his keeping,
  Can comfort the weeping,
Can soften the rugged, and strengthen the weak
  He wins, with devotion,
  Man's noblest emotion,
And telleth the things that none other can speak.

  "While thou art fulfilling,
  With sowing and tilling,
The portion of duty God chose to assign!
  This One is intrusted
  With talents, adjusted
To render his office far higher than thine.

  "The power he holdeth,
  The scroll he unfoldeth,
Your utmost of striving will fail to obtain;
  Life's rarest bequeathing
  But lives in his breathing;
And think'st thou such gift was allotted in vain?

  "Go, go, thou rebuker,
  Hard son of hard lucre!
Let the dreaming One rove as he lists on the sward;
  And tremble, ye Toilers,
  Ye Spirit despoilers;
When the Poet is thrust from Humanity's board!"

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