"Nay, nay, I know them all too well,
Each ridge, and peak, and dome;
In that cloud-land, in one high dell,
Nesteth my little home."
BETTER THINGS.
Better to smell a violet,
Than sip the careless wine;
Better to list one music tone,
Than watch the jewels' shine.
Better to have the love of one,
Than smiles like morning dew;
Better to have a living seed
Than flowers of every hue.
Better to feel a love within,
Than be lovely to the sight;
Better a homely tenderness
Than beauty's wild delight.
Better to love than be beloved.
Though lonely all the day;
Better the fountain in the heart,
Than the fountain by the way.
Better a feeble love to God,
Than for woman's love to pine;
Better to have the making God
Than the woman made divine.
Better be fed by mother's hand,
Than eat alone at will;
Better to trust in God, than say:
My goods my storehouse fill.
Better to be a little wise
Than learned overmuch;
Better than high are lowly thoughts,
For truthful thoughts are such.
Better than thrill a listening crowd,
Sit at a wise man's feet;
But better teach a child, than toil
To make thyself complete.