Madmoments: or First Verseattempts By a Bornnatural. Addressed to the Lightheaded of Society at Large, by Henry Ellison |
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ON SELFLIMITING. |
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 | Madmoments: or First Verseattempts |  |
ON SELFLIMITING.
1.
That which at first contracts thy Liberty,Cramps thee in real Life's seemingscanty Space,
Instead of Fancy's wide Domain, will place
Thee in thy Sphere of best Activity,
And make thee in the End more truly free:
Concentrate all thy Powers, and thus brace
Thy Soul to its high Task, untill it face
Its Lot, in calm Content, whate'er it be.
Within its Banks the Stream flows strong alone,
Diffuse it and it stagnates, or grows weak.
Restraint is Freedom's Essence: Limits known
And fixed are needfull that the Soul may seek
Its full Development, attained by none
Who from Man's proper Sphere of Action break.
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The highest Greatness which a Being canAttain, is to be itself, and to this,
God himself, when he made it what it is,
Whatever that may be, Dog, Rose, or Man,
With full Means each has furnished — he then who
Forsakes Man's Sphere, cannot attain to his
True Greatness, nor that only must he miss,
But every other: for 'twould be a new,
Strange Mode of Being to him, and God has
Not furnished him with Means or Powers thereto,
For he ne'er destined one Thing to be two!
How foolish then beyond that Sphere to pass,
Where merely being what insensibly
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Both great and happy, and so easily,
As scarce the Why or How thereof to know!
| Madmoments: or First Verseattempts | |