SELF MASTERY.
(A SONNET.)
O! for the power to lay this burden low!
This weight of self; to kill all vain desire
To clasp to our outer selves the scorching fire,
So that the God within shall live and grow!
O! for the strength to face the hidden foe,
To raise our being higher still and higher,
To breathe the breath that Holy ones inspire,
To break the bonds that bind to Earth below!
Great, Infinite Soul! that broodeth o’er us ever,
Say, can the human will unaided win
The Victor’s crown (and earthly bondage sever),
—A Heavenly flight, triumphant over sin?
O Human and Divine, forsake us never,
Thine is the power by which we enter in!
Dum Spiro, Spero.