Poems (Baldwyn)/To a Friend (How oft we view our weakness, and deplore)
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For works with similar titles, see To a Friend.
TO A FRIEND.
How oft we view our weakness, and deplore
The chain of circumstance around us thrown,
But barren sands, long heaping on the shore,
(As in fair nature is so often shown,)
Do bear some trees and flowers, and are made
At last a fair retreat, a shelt'ring shade.
The chain of circumstance around us thrown,
But barren sands, long heaping on the shore,
(As in fair nature is so often shown,)
Do bear some trees and flowers, and are made
At last a fair retreat, a shelt'ring shade.
The hand of God indeed may bare the strand
Where bright waves glitter'd; but the treasures borne
Of thought and feeling (like shells unto the land,)
May make us blest; and though the sea-weed's thrown,
Yet we may gleam from all things what is best.
The fly of evening darkens when in rest:[1]
Where bright waves glitter'd; but the treasures borne
Of thought and feeling (like shells unto the land,)
May make us blest; and though the sea-weed's thrown,
Yet we may gleam from all things what is best.
The fly of evening darkens when in rest:[1]
Then let the mind speed on! Nor earth nor time
May limit its expansion! Higher bliss
Awaits our onward being; the sublime
Is in the moral nature: not in this
Low scene of earth the soul spreads full her wings;
Yet to this life some taste of heaven she brings.
May limit its expansion! Higher bliss
Awaits our onward being; the sublime
Is in the moral nature: not in this
Low scene of earth the soul spreads full her wings;
Yet to this life some taste of heaven she brings.
- ↑ The "fire-fly."