Part 23 (2/2)

With her own life she fans and feeds that weak life's trembling rays, And with the sweetness of the care, the care itself repays.

And dost thou Nature then blaspheme--that both the child and mother Each unto each unites, the while the one doth need the other?-- All self-sufficing wilt thou from that lovely circle stand-- That creature still to creature links in faith's familiar band?

Ah! dar'st thou, poor one, from the rest thy lonely self estrange?

Eternal power itself is but all powers in interchange!

THE BEST STATE CONSt.i.tUTION.

I can recognize only as such, the one that enables Each to think what is right,--but that he thinks so, cares not.

THE WORDS OF BELIEF.

Three words will I name thee--around and about, From the lip to the lip, full of meaning, they flee; But they had not their birth in the being without, And the heart, not the lip, must their oracle be!

And all worth in the man shall forever be o'er When in those three words he believes no more.

Man is made free!--Man by birthright is free, Though the tyrant may deem him but born for his tool.

Whatever the shout of the rabble may be-- Whatever the ranting misuse of the fool-- Still fear not the slave, when he breaks from his chain, For the man made a freeman grows safe in his gain.

And virtue is more than a shade or a sound, And man may her voice, in this being, obey; And though ever he slip on the stony ground, Yet ever again to the G.o.dlike way, To the science of good though the wise may be blind, Yet the practice is plain to the childlike mind.

And a G.o.d there is!--over s.p.a.ce, over time, While the human will rocks, like a reed, to and fro, Lives the will of the holy--a purpose sublime, A thought woven over creation below; Changing and s.h.i.+fting the all we inherit, But changeless through all one immutable spirit

Hold fast the three words of belief--though about From the lip to the lip, full of meaning, they flee; Yet they take not their birth from the being without-- But a voice from within must their oracle be; And never all worth in the man can be o'er, Till in those three words he believes no more.

THE WORDS OF ERROR.

Three errors there are, that forever are found On the lips of the good, on the lips of the best; But empty their meaning and hollow their sound-- And slight is the comfort they bring to the breast.

The fruits of existence escape from the clasp Of the seeker who strives but those shadows to grasp--

So long as man dreams of some age in this life When the right and the good will all evil subdue; For the right and the good lead us ever to strife, And wherever they lead us the fiend will pursue.

And (till from the earth borne, and stifled at length) The earth that he touches still gifts him with strength! [56]

So long as man fancies that fortune will live, Like a bride with her lover, united with worth; For her favors, alas! to the mean she will give-- And virtue possesses no t.i.tle to earth!

That foreigner wanders to regions afar, Where the lands of her birthright immortally are!

So long as man dreams that, to mortals a gift, The truth in her fulness of splendor will s.h.i.+ne; The veil of the G.o.ddess no earth-born may lift, And all we can learn is--to guess and divine!

Dost thou seek, in a dogma, to prison her form?

The spirit flies forth on the wings of the storm!

O, n.o.ble soul! fly from delusions like these, More heavenly belief be it thine to adore; Where the ear never hearkens, the eye never sees, Meet the rivers of beauty and truth evermore!

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