27.12.2010, 12:02
ON CERTAIN BOOKS.
Faith and fixt hope these pages may peruse,
And still be faith and hope ; but, O ye winds !
Blow them far off from all unstable minds,
And foolish grasping hands of youth ! Ye dews
Of heaven ! be pleased to rot them where they fall.
Lest loitering boys their fancies should abuse,
And they get harm by chance, that cannot choose ;
So be they stain'd and sodden^ each and all !
And if, perforce, on dry and gusty days.
Upon the breeze some truant leaf should rise,
Brittle with many weathers, to the skies,
Or flit and dodge about the public ways —
Man's choral shout, or organ's peal of praise
Shall shake it into dust, like older lies.
Alas ! my friend, 'tis motive power one needs
And not these idle fancies ill-advised ;
Mere harness will not pull us up to Christ,
Without the strength of full and living creeds ;
These shiny morals are no match for sin.
These empty trappings are not force nor speed ;
What 1 shall we hope the chariot race to win
With straps and hea^J-stalls only ? To succeed
In that great race, to Faith alone is given —
On-looking Faith, whose object fires the will ;
And, as the distance shrinks 'twixt earth and heaven,
Glows with its motion, and bears forward still.
Because it marks the goal with steadfast eye,
While smart theosophies lose heart and die.
Faith and fixt hope these pages may peruse,
And still be faith and hope ; but, O ye winds !
Blow them far off from all unstable minds,
And foolish grasping hands of youth ! Ye dews
Of heaven ! be pleased to rot them where they fall.
Lest loitering boys their fancies should abuse,
And they get harm by chance, that cannot choose ;
So be they stain'd and sodden^ each and all !
And if, perforce, on dry and gusty days.
Upon the breeze some truant leaf should rise,
Brittle with many weathers, to the skies,
Or flit and dodge about the public ways —
Man's choral shout, or organ's peal of praise
Shall shake it into dust, like older lies.
Alas ! my friend, 'tis motive power one needs
And not these idle fancies ill-advised ;
Mere harness will not pull us up to Christ,
Without the strength of full and living creeds ;
These shiny morals are no match for sin.
These empty trappings are not force nor speed ;
What 1 shall we hope the chariot race to win
With straps and hea^J-stalls only ? To succeed
In that great race, to Faith alone is given —
On-looking Faith, whose object fires the will ;
And, as the distance shrinks 'twixt earth and heaven,
Glows with its motion, and bears forward still.
Because it marks the goal with steadfast eye,
While smart theosophies lose heart and die.