Madmoments: or First Verseattempts By a Bornnatural. Addressed to the Lightheaded of Society at Large, by Henry Ellison |
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RAILROADTRAVELLING. |
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 | Madmoments: or First Verseattempts |  |
RAILROADTRAVELLING.
[1.]
What boot your windswift Railroads? will ye reachYour journeysend the quicker for such things?
Tho' ye should leave behind the Eagleswings,
Ye lag not less upon that way, which each
And all must tread: ye Earthsouls who would teach
That Nationswealth lies but in that which brings
Increase of Gold aud Ledger-reckonings!
'Tis but disease and weakness which ye preach;
What strength is, ye know not— 'tis not in Nerve,
In Walls, or Gold, or Numbers, for all these
Are of the Earth and earthly, nor deserve
The name of strength, which like the sap in trees,
Grows inwardly, and is the fountainhead,
Whence Life, Power, Beauty flow thro' forms else dead!
2.
True strength is this— To be the foremost stillWhere Good is to be done, where Wrong the last.
To trespass not, however firm and fast
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In love of lofty things, in hate of ill:
Tis still to foster what within thou hast
Of Heavenborn, and in that mould to cast
All this life's forms; so when Time shall fulfill
His course, thy Handyworks in spite of him,
May shed a light which he in vain would dim.
This is true strength, which not on outward things
E'er leans for Aid, nor owes unto the whim
Of Chance Allegiance; but with it brings
Power not granted to the Thrones of kings!
3.
What boot your railways? 'tis but Time and SpaceBoth earthly things, and for the body's sake
Ye thus curtail— but can your vain skill make
A shorter, easier path to God's high Grace?
Or can ye mend one jot the Spirit's pace?
The soul hath wings, and journeys it can take
Where railways vanish in its glorious wake,
And Earth itself grows but a speck, a base
And cloudlike speck, in Faith's widereaching Sky!
Then while these Earthbesotted deem they fly,
Wrapt in the Dust of their own nothingness
And saving Time to lose Eternity,
Let us not stoop to such unworthiness
But consciously our heritage possess.
| Madmoments: or First Verseattempts | |