Beyond participation lie
My troubles, and beyond relief: If any chance to heave a sigh,
They pity me, and not my grief.
Then come to me, my Son, or send Some tidings that my woes may end; I have no other earthly friend!
ADDRESS TO MY INFANT DAUGHTER DORA,
ON BEING REMINDED THAT. SHE WAS A MONTH OLD THAT DAY, SEPTEMBER 16.
HAST thou then survived
Mild Offspring of infirm humanity, Meek Infant! among all forlornest things The most forlorn one life of that bright star, The second glory of the Heavens?—Thou hast ; Already hast survived that great decay,
That transformation through the wide earth felt, And by all nations. In that Being's sight From whom the Race of human kind proceed, A thousand years are but as yesterday; And one day's narrow circuit is to Him Not less capacious than a thousand years.
But what is time? What outward glory? Neither A measure is of Thee, whose claims extend
Through "heaven's eternal year." Yet hail to Thee, Frail, feeble Monthling! — by that name, methinks,
Thy scanty breathing-time is portioned out Not idly. Hadst thou been of Indian birth, Couched on a casual bed of moss and leaves, And rudely canopied by leafy boughs, Or to the churlish elements exposed On the blank plains,
the coldness of the night, Or the night's darkness, or its cheerful face Of beauty, by the changing moon adorned, Would, with imperious admonition, then Have scored thine age, and punctually timed Thine infant history, on the minds of those Who might have wandered with thee. - Mother's love, Nor less than mother's love in other breasts, Will, among us warm-clad and warmly housed, Do for thee what the finger of the heavens Doth all too often harshly execute For thy unblest coevals, amid wilds Where fancy hath small liberty to grace The affections, to exalt them or refine; And the maternal sympathy itself, Though strong, is, in the main, a joyless tie Of naked instinct, wound about the heart. Happier, far happier, is thy lot and ours! Even now to solemnize thy helpless state, And to enliven in the mind's regard Thy passive beauty - parallels have risen, Resemblances, or contrasts, that connect, Within the region of a father's thoughts, Thee and thy mate and sister of the sky.
And first; thy sinless progress, through a world, By sorrow darkened and by care disturbed,
Apt likeness bears to hers, through gathered clouds Moving untouched in silver purity,
And cheering oft-times their reluctant gloom. Fair are ye both, and both are free from stain: But thou, how leisurely thou fill'st thy horn With brightness! leaving her to post along, And range about, disquieted in change, And still impatient of the shape she wears. Once up, once down the hill, one journey, Babe, That will suffice thee; and it seems that now Thou hast fore-knowledge that such task is thine; Thou travellest so contentedly, and sleep'st In such a heedless peace. Alas! full soon Hath this conception, grateful to behold, Changed countenance, like an object sullied o'er By breathing mist; and thine appears to be A mournful labor, while to her is given
Hope, and a renovation without end.
- That smile forbids the thought; for on thy face Smiles are beginning, like the beams of dawn,
To shoot and circulate; smiles have there been seen; Tranquil assurances that Heaven supports
The feeble motions of thy life, and cheers Thy loneliness: or shall those smiles be called Feelers of love, put forth as if to explore This untried world, and to prepare thy way Through a strait passage, intricate and dim? Such are they; and the same are tokens, signs, Which, when the appointed season hath arrived, Joy, as her holiest language shall adopt;
And Reason's godlike Power be proud to own.
THERE is a Flower, the lesser Celandine,
That shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain And, the first moment that the sun may shine, Bright as the sun himself, 't is out again!
When hailstones have been falling, swarm on swarm, Or blasts the green field and the trees distrest, Oft have I seen it muffled up from harm,
In close self-shelter, like a Thing at rest.
But lately, one rough day, this Flower I passed And recognized it, though an altered form, Now standing forth an offering to the blast, And buffeted at will by rain and storm.
I stopped, and said with inly muttered voice, "It doth not love the shower, nor seek the cold: This neither is its courage nor its choice,
But its necessity in being old.
The sunshine may not cheer it, nor the dew;
It cannot help itself in its decay;
Stiff in its members, withered, changed of hue." And, in my spleen, I smiled that it was grey.
To be a Prodigal's Favorite — then, worse truth, A Miser's Pensioner behold our lot!
O Man, that from thy fair and shining youth
Age might but take the things Youth needed not!
"Jam non consilio bonus, sed more eò perductus, ut non tantum rectè facere possim, sed nisi rectè facere non possim."
STERN Daughter of the Voice of God! O Duty! if that name thou love Who art a light to guide, a rod To check the erring, and reprove; Thou, who art victory and law
When empty terrors overawe;
From vain temptations dost set free;
And calm'st the weary strife of frail humanity!
There are who ask not if thine eye
Be on them; who, in love and truth, Where no misgiving is, rely
Upon the genial sense of youth :
Glad Hearts! without reproach or blot;
Who do thy work, and know it not :
Oh! if through confidence misplaced
They fail, thy saving arms, dread Power! around them cast.
Serene will be our days and bright,
And happy will our nature be,
When love is an unerring light,
And joy its own security.
And they a blissful course may
Even now, who, not unwisely bold,
Live in the spirit of this creed;
Yet seek thy firm support, according to their need.
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