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Of life, of love, and gladness, doth dispense
His beams; which, unexcluded in their fall,
Upon the southern side of every grave
Have gently exercised a melting power,
Then will a vernal prospect greet your eye,
All fresh and beautiful, and green and bright,
Hopeful and cheerful:—vanished is the snow,
Vanished or hidden; and the whole Domain,
To some, too lightly minded, might appear
A meadow carpet for the dancing hours.
—This Contrast, not unsuitable to Life,
Is to that other state more apposite,
Death, and its twofold aspect; wintry—one,
Cold, sullen, blank, from hope and joy shut out:
The other, which the ray divine hath touched,
Replete with vivid promise, bright as spring."
"We see, then, as we feel," the Wanderer thus
With a complacent animation spake,
"And, in your judgment, Sir! the Mind's repose
On evidence is not to be ensured
By act of naked Reason. Moral truth