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Blackberries

by William Allingham
Allingham, William (1824-1889)
 
[epigraph]
 
[dedication]

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DAWN.
 
[To plan a wise life, little pains doth ask]
 
[Suppose we tried the simple plan, to say]
 
[O life, made up of hints and moods and fine transitions]
 
[To fight the World's a weary strife]
 
[Thou Great One! help a poor weak man]
 
[Lord, make me fit for heav'n!—but nay]
 
[Speak but one word beyond cavil or doubt!]
 
[Tease not conscience, rack not wit]
 
[Take heed, take heed! the petty seed]
 
[Bad thoughts come and bad thoughts go]
 
[Heaven's space from Hell doth good from ill divide]
 
[Foul blotch of sin—disease—disgrace—]
 
[“Right and Wrong,” “Heaven and Hell,”]
 
[The pure bright world of childhood round us lies]
 
[Grieve for thy sin, grieve on; yet bless]
 
[Sin we have explain'd away]
 
The Game of Definitions.
 
[With this I end the day, with this begin]
 
To M. or N.
 
[This is a pray'r for every mood—]
 
To an Angel pictured looking through the Sky.
 
[Almighty Lord, if day by day]
 
[Soul's Castle fell at one blast of temptation]
 
[How argue from effects? Whate'er you do]
 
[Push me, urge me]
 
[Ruler above me! grant I may]
 
[How delightful, could I sin]
 
[Quibble not on Good and Evil]
 
[A's life is such, you'd say his best hope lies]
 
[“Must I believe in a God?” Please yourself in the matter.]
 
[Irreverent Brute! no churchist now]
 
[That God is moral may be well averr'd]
 
[Man's only true delight]
 
[When I perceive my spirit high and clear]
 
[One friendly look, out of the vague and vast!]
 
[Ideal Truth, O Power serene]
 
[The highest, widest, noblest, thought of thine]
 
[Is “purgatory”]
 
[I believe in GOD]
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[Though modest, as plainly her duty]

Though modest, as plainly her duty,
The Muse would prefer on the whole
A critic like Coleridge or Goethe
To Quirk, Bladder, Cowitch, or Mole.
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