Madmoments: or First Verseattempts By a Bornnatural. Addressed to the Lightheaded of Society at Large, by Henry Ellison |
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 | II. |
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ON PLEASURESEEKING. |
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 | Madmoments: or First Verseattempts |  |
ON PLEASURESEEKING.
1.
The Fool of Fools is he who in the ChaceOf Pleasure sweats and slaves: who toils from Day
To Day, and vainly, 'till his head grows gray,
And he sinks down exhausted by the Race,
Which Mind and Body should but serve to brace,
For what already each Step of the Way
Was in his Reach, would he but think so: say
How shall we then hold fast in our Embrace
The everfleeting Form of Pleasure—to
Be easypleased makes Pleasure everywhere:
But to be so, we must first set a true
Value on Things, know what they really are.
Our Disappointments spring from our undue
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Do not repay the Search: nay, often too
2.
The Search unfits us for Enjoyment, byIts feverish Longing and Anxiety.
Make thyself easy first to please, then thou
Wilt not wait long for what thou seekëst now
With so much Toil: be pleased with all Things, e'en
With merest Trifles, for if thou art so,
What matters it then what the Cause has been?
It is no Trifle unto thee, altho'
To others: 'tis the grand Mistake to throw
Small Things away; the Fool therein can find
No Good, for there is none in his own Mind.
But thou art wiser, and thou know'st that all
Is good—that, grandly viewed, no Thing is small!
| Madmoments: or First Verseattempts | |