404 CONSOLATIONS OF SOLITUDE
Quench thirst for knowledge, while thou dost relate
How Love Paternal did all things create,
All dear alike to him that governs all,39
The starry world so vast, the earth so small,
Down to the humblest moss that grows upon the wall I
O Maid divine, sometimes in mists of doubt
So densely veiled that few can find thee out,
Yet to the steadfast seeker ever kind,
Permitting the most patient first to find !
To the long-tried thou lov'st to show
Wisdom that worldlings cannot know,
And wilt with eloquent lips explain
The natural laws, in wondrous chain
Each to each linked without end.
God wilt thou show of His own works the friend,
Bending to order each with just direction.
And each sustaining with a wise affection,
That all for aye improve, yet never reach perfection.
Instructress wise, fain would I stand As one among thy chosen band. Forgetting fear and care and folly, And, wrapped in pleasing melancholy, Hang on thy lips, and feel the day Pass in unanxious peace away ; And, when the moon sets sail on high, And stars are lit through all the sky. From each far lighthouse twinkling through Those boundless seas of limpid blue, Still would I muse in peace so deep That thought itself should seem like sleep ; While days and months and years glide by In studious ease, so noiselessly That lastly scarce the dart of death Should startle, when it stopped my breath.
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