THE FAVOUR OF THE MOMENT.
And so we find ourselves once more
A ring, though varying yet serene,
The wreaths of song we wove of yore
Again we'll weave as fresh and green.
But who the God to whom we bring
The earliest tribute song can treasure?
Him, first of all the Gods, we sing
Whose blessing to ourselves is—pleasure!
For boots it on the votive shrine
That Ceres life itself bestows
Or liberal Bacchus gives the wine
That through the glass in purple glows—
If still there come not from the heaven
The spark that sets the hearth on flame;
If to the soul no fire is given,
And the sad heart remain the same?
Sudden as from the clouds must fall,
As from the lap of God, our bliss—
And still the mightiest lord of all,
Monarch of Time, the MOMENT is!
Since endless Nature first began
Whate'er of might the mind hath wrought—
Whate'er of Godlike comes from Man
Springs from one lightning-flash of thought!
For years the marble block awaits
The breath of life, beneath the soil—
A happy thought the work creates,
A moment's glance rewards the toil.
As suns that weave from out their blaze
The various colours round them given;
As Iris, on her arch of rays,
Hovers, and vanishes from heaven;
So fair, so fleeting every prize—
A lightning flash that shines and fades—
The Moment's brightness gilds the skies
And round the brightness close the shades.
EXPECTATION AND FULFILMENT.
O'er ocean with a thousand masts sails on the young man bold—
One boat, hard-rescued from the deep, draws into port the old!
* * * * *
TO THE PROSELYTE—MAKER.
"A little Earth from out the Earth, and I
The Earth will move"—so said the sage divine;
Out of myself one little moment try
Myself to take;—succeed, and I am thine.
* * * * *
VALUE AND WORTH.
If thou hast something, bring thy goods, a fair return be
thine!—
If thou art something—bring thy soul, and interchange with mine.