As oft to save a life by wounds imperiled
A surgeon hazards some unusual cure,
So also on the battle-field of Life
A false position and a wayward course
May oft be righted by a daring step
Which in the eyes of men may meet with censure,
But gains its palm before the eye of God.
Withdraw from here a while, if still thy father
Persists to be the tyrant's ready tool.
And from the distance lure him on to thee
By frequent proofs of unchanged filial love.
He soon will feel the utter loneliness
That yawns around him here, the aimlessness
Of his career, and yearning to rejoin
The only heart that on this earthly round
Still beats for him, he will depart from here.
The first step which he takes to reach the ship
That carries him to thee, will disentangle
The Gordian Knot of his embarrassment.
Elsie.
It cannot be! A sacred vow has chained
My destiny forever to his lot.
My mother, well foreseeing at her death
The threat'ning crisis which must overtake him
Inevitably as wrongs of heart or mind
Draw after them remorse and punishment,—
Exacted from my lips this oath, that never
