Madmoments: or First Verseattempts By a Bornnatural. Addressed to the Lightheaded of Society at Large, by Henry Ellison |
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RETRIBUTION. |
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 | Madmoments: or First Verseattempts |  |
RETRIBUTION.
1.
'Tis not in vain we suffer and we toil!We have our own reward: that inward light
Which makes all clear; still 'mid the clouds, blest sight!
Faith sees God's mighty arm, stretchd forth to foil
Th' Usurper and his hosts: oft the recoil
Of his own blow will shatter his frail might!
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And Wrong, snakelike, the Evil will uncoil
Its inert folds and crush him! yea! for he
Who would, up to a certain point alone,
Employ for base selfends its ministry,
Still by its wider action is undone:
It turns to baffle him; 'twere better play
With the Wildtiger, or the Ligtningsray!
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For who can say, «thus far, no farther go,»Save God alone? can proud Philosophy,
Of all the seeds which in the Future lie,
Destined to bear their fruits, say which shall grow,
Or which shall not? alas! for Reason, no!
His Logic and his Rules are vanity,
When he would trace the ways of the Mosthigh;
'Tis given unto Faith alone to know,
Or what is better still for mortals here,
To doubt not that «whatever is, is right,»
For Faith were not, if she had nought to bear:
If needing other guidance than that light,
Which coming from her God, alone makes clear
The things of God unto the moral sight!
| Madmoments: or First Verseattempts | |