Madmoments: or First Verseattempts By a Bornnatural. Addressed to the Lightheaded of Society at Large, by Henry Ellison |
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OD SELFDENIAL. |
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 | Madmoments: or First Verseattempts |  |
OD SELFDENIAL.
Live simply, then wilt thou feel grandly too!High Thinking and plain Living are more near
Akin than thou believ'st: the last doth bear
The former's Impress—give to all their Due:
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A sound and pleasurable Being here:
Thus will the spiritual man be clear-
Ersighted, in his Loves and Hates more true!
For Selfdenial has its Joys: more dear,
Lasting, and sweet from what they cost us! he
Who prunes all needless Wants, concentrates so
His Mind on better Things, thus truly free:
'Tis not alone that simple Living be
Best for our Weal, tho' that be something: no!
It is the loftier Tone of Mind which we
Thus gain: the Selfcommand that thence must flow
With all its noble Heritage, unfailingly
As Water from the Spring! 'till Passions low
No longer move us: 'till we come to see
Life's outward Goods as worthless, when we know
What divine Joys from our own Bosoms grow!
Denial, tho' it seem to rob of all
The lesser Pleasures which like Manna fall
On Life's hard Way, becomes, as on we go,
Thro' Love and Habit, sublime Luxury:
This Wonder is a Wonder of the Sky!
For e'en from Want can Virtue Plenty call,
And where naught seems, with Overwealth supply:
For Earth's least Joy resign'd pour at our Feet
Pleasure's full Horn, Bliss lasting as'tis sweet!
Then give, give, give! and still yourselves deny!
Give all, yea, even your own Hearts away,
And God with his own Godlike Heart will pay
Ye back a thousandfold! give all ye have,
'Tis but returned to him who all first gave:
Give like thy Father up in Heaven, then
All that thou giv'st shall come to thee again
Sublimed to thy enlarged Capacity!
The mighty Heart of all Mankind in thy
One Bosom then shall best: yea! thou shalt see
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With Hearts and Eyes of all thy Fellowmen!
And as each Grain, howsmallsoe'er it be,
In the vast Bell, enjoyeth not the less
The Music of the Whole, so shalt thou do:
Of all Mankind enjoy the Happiness,
As tho' the mighty Heart beat but for you!
For each Part with the Whole when blended true,
(Else, grainlike, lost in its own Nothingness)
Enjoys the Whole, and yet is itself too!
Thus mayst thou press all Nature to thy Heart,
The mighty Woman—like a mortal Wife,
One with her, yet a Being still apart,
Living in her, yet Life too of her Life!
| Madmoments: or First Verseattempts | |