Poems

f transient thoughts and musings. RESIGNATION. One writes a book, and wins the admiring age- One gives to it a deeper toned belief? One makes the world his own applauded stage- One holds its wealth in fief. chapter{Section 4Each to his lot: unliterary mine ; Unholy, unheroic and unrich ; I can but hope there are some notes divine Within its highest pitch. I strike my fetters, and, above their clank, Methinks I hear some better music ring ; And be it mine the scatter'd notes to rank, Their harmony to sing. I've long'd for nobler work ; but now I seek No higher plane than this to me assign'd ; And trust to snatch a cadence more unique Than elsewhere I could find. III. THOUGHTS. His thoughts?the truest features of the man? Above all else deserve to be recorded : Nothing in history more living than A thought when deftly worded. The words are to the thought its earthly frame : They die in time, and then we deem it ended : But, like the immortal spirit whence it came, The lost has but ascended. chapter{Section 5Thoughts do not die. Some pass to realms of glory At once, as from the flower the odour flows ; While some live seal'd in words from ages hoary ? The ottar of the rose. And so, according to the strong completeness Of that expression, their earth-life prolongs : And some have grown, thro' its surpassing sweetness, Almost time-during songs. FIRST BE, THEN TEACH. If, Poet, thou would'st live beyo... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.