The sun, untir'd, still rose and set, Swerv'd not an instant from its beat; It had not lost a moment yet, Nor used in vain its light and heat; But, as in trance, from when it rose To when it sank, man crav'd repose. A holy light that shone of yore He saw, despis'd, and left behind : His heart was rotting to the core Lock'd in the slumbers of the mind: Not beat of drum, nor sound of fife, Could rouse it to a sense of life. A cry was heard, inton'd and slow, Of one who had no wares to vend : His words were gentle, duil, and low, And he call'd out, "Old souls to He peddled on from door to door, His step kept on as if in pace With some old timepiece in his head, Nor ever did its way retrace; Nor right nor left turn'd he his tread, But utter'd still his tinker's cry So well they knew the olden note Few heeded what the tinker spake, Though here and there an ear it smote And seem'd a sudden hold to take; But they had not the time to stay, And it would do some other day. Still on his way the tinker wends, Though jobs be far between and few ; But here and there a soul he mends And makes it look as good as new. Over the task his features glow; He knocks away the rusty flakes ; A spark flies off at every blow; At every rap new life awakes. The soul once cleans'd of outward sins, His subtle handicraft begins. Like iron unanneal'd and crude, The soul is plunged into the blast; To temper it, however rude, 'Tis next in holy water cast ; Then on the anvil it receives The tinker's task is at an end: Stamp'd was the cross by that last blow. One stops and says, "This soul of mine |