 | Songs of A Wayfarer |  |
CI. SELF-INFLUENCE.
As children to their parents when grown oldReturn their good with other good again;
Or like the usurer that makes his gain
By lending gold to be repaid with gold;
So Virtue's self should make itself a mould
Whose fair proportion may more fair contain;
A glass to take heaven's light without a stain,
That on the patent soul it may refold:
For if from others' graces grace may grow
By power of influence and love's impress,
So that which from our better selves doth flow
Should hold a standard rule and sway no less:
Thus every part of true-set lives should go
To make more noble Virtue's nobleness.
| Songs of A Wayfarer | |