Poems (Osgood)/Aspirations

by Frances Sargent Osgood

ASPIRATIONS.

I waste no more in idle dreams my life, my soul away;
I wake to know my better self,—I wake to watch and pray.
Thought, feeling, time, on idols vain, I've lavish'd all too long:
Henceforth to holier purposes I pledge myself, my song!

Oh! still within the inner veil, upon the spirit's shrine,
Still unprofaned by evil, burns the one pure spark divine
Which God has kindled in us all, and be it mine to tend
Henceforth with vestal thought and care, the light that lamp may lead.

I shut mine eyes in grief and shame upon the dreary past,
My heart, my soul pour'd recklessly on dreams that could not last.
My bark has drifted down the stream at will of wind
An idle, light, and fragile thing, that few had cared to save.

Henceforth the tiller Truth shall hold, and steer as Conscience tells
And I will brave the storms of Fate, tho' wild the ocean swells.
I know my soul is strong and high, if once I give it sway;
I feel a glorious power within, tho' light I seem and gay.

Oh! laggard soul! unclose thine eyes. No more in luxury soft
Of joy ideal waste thyself! awake, and soar aloft!
Unfurl this hour those falcon wings which thou dost fold too long;
Raise to the skies thy lightning gaze, and sing thy loftiest song.