VOTIVE TABLETS.
That which I learned from the Deity,—
that which through lifetime hath helped me,
Meekly and gratefully now, here I suspend in his shrine.
DIFFERENT DESTINIES.
Millions busily toil, that the human race may continue;
But by only a few is propagated our kind.
Thousands of seeds by the autumn are scattered, yet fruit is engendered
Only by few, for the most back to the element go.
But if one only can blossom, that one is able to scatter
Even a bright living world, filled with creations eterne.
THE ANIMATING PRINCIPLE.
Nowhere in the organic or sensitive world ever kindles
Novelty, save in the flower, noblest creation of life.
TWO DESCRIPTIONS OF ACTION.
Do what is good, and humanity's godlike plant thou wilt nourish;
Plan what is fair, and thou'lt strew seeds of the godlike around.
DIFFERENCE OF STATION.
Even the moral world its nobility boasts—vulgar natures
Reckon by that which they do; noble, by that which they are.
WORTH AND THE WORTHY.
If thou anything hast, let me have it,—I'll pay what is proper;
If thou anything art, let us our spirits exchange.
THE MORAL FORCE.
If thou feelest not the beautiful, still thou with reason canst will it;
And as a spirit canst do, that which as man thou canst not.
PARTICIPATION.
E'en by the hand of the wicked can truth be working with vigor;
But the vessel is filled by what is beauteous alone.
TO ——
Tell me all that thou knowest, and I will thankfully hear it!
But wouldst thou give me thyself,—let me, my friend, be excused!
TO ——
Wouldst thou teach me the truth? Don't take the trouble! I wish not,
Through thee, the thing to observe,—but to see thee through the thing.