 | The Poetical Works of (Richard Monckton Milnes) Lord Houghton |  |
265
ON COWPER'S GARDEN AT OLNEY.
From this forlornest place, at morn and even,Issues a voice imperative, “Begone,
All ye that let your vermin thoughts creep on
Beneath the unheeded thunders of high Heaven;
Nor welcome they, who, when free grace is given
To free from usual life's dominion,
Soon as the moving scene or time is gone,
Return, like penitents unfitly shriven.
But Ye, who long have wooed the memory
Of this great Victim of sublime despair,
Encompassed round with evil as with air,
Yet crying, ‘God is good, and sinful He,’—.
Remain, and feel how better 'tis to drink
Of Truth to Madness even than shun that fountain's brink.”
| The Poetical Works of (Richard Monckton Milnes) Lord Houghton | |