Seize what the sense can give; it is thine own Then rose Altair, more sweet than Disarm thee, Virtue! barren is thy words Or music's soul could say. strife; Knowledge, thy torch let fall! They from old time, in course the "Seek thy lost Psyche, yearning gether, Checkmated by each other's eyes? Ah! still I see your soft white hand Hovering warm o'er queen and knight; Brave pawns in valiant battle stand; The double castles guard the wings; The bishop, bent on distant things, Moves sidling through the fight. Our fingers touch, our glances meet, And falter, falls your golden hair Against my cheek: your bosom sweet Is heaving; down the field, your queen Rides slow her soldiery all between, CHANGES. WHOм first we love, you know, we seldom wed. Time rules us all. And life indeed, is not The thing we planned it out ere hope is dead. And then, we women cannot choose our lot. Much must be borne which it is hard to bear: Much given away which it were sweet to keep. God help us all! who need, indeed, His care, And yet I know, the Shepherd loves His sheep. But what some land is gladdened. No star ever rose And set, without influence somewhere. Who knows What earth needs from earth's lowest creature? No life Can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife And all life not be purer and stronger thereby. The spirits of just men made perfect on high, The army of martyrs who stand by the throne And gaze into the face that makes glorious their own, Know this, surely, at last. Honest love, honest sorrow, Honest work for the day, honest hope for the morrow, Are these worth nothing more than the hand they make weary, The heart they have sadden'd, the life they leave dreary? the sevenfold heavens to the voice of the Spirit Hush! Echo: He that o'ercometh shall all things inherit. |