There is a little poem of Lowell’s, which brings out so well the contrast between the two forces constantly at work in human affairs, and illustrates so beautifully the tempers which should underlie all action in them, that I am sure you will thank me for quoting it here. It is called “Above and Below:”—
ABOVE.
I.
O dwellers in the valley land,
Who in deep twilight grope and cower,
Till the slow mountain’s dial-hand
Shortens to noon’s triumphant hour—
While ye sit idle, do ye think
The Lord’s great work sits idle too,
That light dare not o’erleap the brink