Madmoments: or First Verseattempts By a Bornnatural. Addressed to the Lightheaded of Society at Large, by Henry Ellison |
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TRUE VICTORIES. |
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 | Madmoments: or First Verseattempts |  |
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TRUE VICTORIES.
Truth has calm Conquests, where the Sword and SpearCan claim no Part—not loud or noisy, tho'
Of mightiest Results: and from these flow
The Blessings which with heartdeep Ties endear
The Altar and the Fireside, and rear
On the sublime Affections which thence grow,
(Eternal Pillars, proof against each Blow
Of outward Chance and selfbetraying Fear)
The State's vast Fabric, on its one sure Base;
For brute Force reaches not unto the Thought
And Heart of Man, nor can it thence displace
One Prejudice—great Changes must be wrought
By Men's best Feelings, thro' their ownselves: they
Must work the Good for themselves, their own Way,
Else it is none to them, it is as naught:
Let but the inward Eye of Reason first
See clear, and leave the rest to them—the worst
Of all Ways is by Force to make Men do
That which alone can be reached surely thro'
Their own Cooperation, their own Will
And Feelings, which once forced, the Object still
Remains imperfect, unattained, nay grows
A bitter Evil; for the Wiseman knows
That there is only one Compulsion by
Which men can be sublimely, certainly
Impelled to godlike Things, and that is, of
Truth, divine Truth, and still diviner Love,
The Constraint of the God within the Breast,
Whose Fiat gained, brings over all the Rest;
And what are Nerve and Sword without the Heart?
As Reeds within a Child's weak Grasp at best,
And with it? less—what boots the meaner Part
When that which is most godlike is possest?
Then use them not: use Thoughts! these are the true
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All spiritual Greatness, far above
Earth's Mists they Lift us, full in God's own View,
The Jacobsladder which he sometimes déscends too!
| Madmoments: or First Verseattempts | |