A pure sweet spirit, generous and large

Was thine, dear poet. Calm, unturbulent,

Its course along Life’s varying ways it went,

Like some broad river on whose happy marge

Are noble groves, lawns, towns—which takes the charge

Of peaceful freights from inward regions sent

For human use and help and heart’s content,

And bears Love’s sunlit sails and Beauty’s barge.

So brimming, deepening ever to the sea

Through gloom and sun, reflecting inwardly