Touches on The Harp of Nature :: :: University of Virginia Library

Despise naught, till thou find'st naught to despise
In thine own bosom: could that e'er be so!
Could even earth's least earthly child find no,
No human frailty there, in Wisdom's eyes
'Twere but more reason higher still to rise
'Bove all such paltry feelings, which but show
Our weakness, and most where we deemed no blow
Could reach us, dozing in Security's

Too sluggish lap. He who despises the
Least thing, should there no other reason be
But this, will surely in his own heart find
Some leaven of poor, frail mortality:
Some ground of self-contempt; thus still may he
Find full scope for it there; the true stone blind,
These are the proud, the blind may get sight, see
Their own faults, and a little charity
Covers a multitude of sins! but when
We put her godlike eye out in the mind,
How should her divine light direct us then?

2.

First, when thou hast removed from thine own breast
All ground of self-contempt, then would'st thou have
Some right to despise others; but what gave
Thee that same right, would be the very best
Of reasons why thou should'st not; for to be
Faultless, like Christ, would take away from thee
All power to feel contempt. Then feel none: lest
Thy pride outweigh the faults from which thou'rt free!