Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/352

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Poems That Every Child Should Know

To man, propose this test—
Thy body at its best,
How far can that project thy soul on its lone way?


Yet gifts should prove their use:
I own the Past profuse
Of power each side, perfection every turn:
Eyes, ears took in their dole,
Brain treasured up the whole:
Should not the heart beat once "How good to live and learn?"


Not once beat "Praise be Thine!
I see the whole design,
I, who saw power, see now love perfect too:
Perfect I call Thy plan:
Thanks that I was a man!
Maker, remake, complete,—I trust what Thou shalt do!"


For pleasant is this flesh,
Our soul, in its rose-mesh
Pull'd ever to the earth, still yearns for rest;
Would we some prize might hold
To match those manifold
Possessions of the brute,—gain most, as we did best!


Let us not always say,
"Spite of this flesh to-day

I strove, made head, gain'd ground upon the whole!"