Bear-and-forbear,
To make folk blest,
Seeks everywhere
To be a guest.
Angelic one,
Who art so near,
Thy will be done,
Both now and here.
LX.
Comes knowledge
At college;
Wisdom comes later,
And is the greater.
Art thou of both possessed?
Then art thou richly blest.
LXI.
What can I wish thee better
Than that through all thy days,
The spirit, not the letter,
Invite thy blame or praise?
Seek ever to unroll
The substance or the soul;
If that be fair and pure,
It will, and must endure;
And lo! the homely dress
Grows into loveliness.
LXII.
Into the heart of man
The things that bless or ban;
Out of the life he lives,
The boon or curse he gives.
Guard well thy open heart,
What enters must depart.
LXIII.
Is this--is this thine album?
'Tis nothing but a sign
Of something more divine.
Thou art the real album,
And on its wondrous pages
Is writ thy daily wages.
Thou canst not blot a word,
Much less tear out a leaf.
But all thy prayers are heard,
And every pain and grief
May be to thee as stairs
To better things, until
Thou reachest, unawares,
The Master's mind and will.