Madmoments: or First Verseattempts By a Bornnatural. Addressed to the Lightheaded of Society at Large, by Henry Ellison |
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NOTHING THAT INVOLVES A RIGHT OR A PRINCIPLE UNIMPORTANT. |
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 | Madmoments: or First Verseattempts |  |
NOTHING THAT INVOLVES A RIGHT OR A PRINCIPLE UNIMPORTANT.
1.
Know ye not that great Motives may be foundIn what seem merest Trifles? small Things bear
Great Issues with them, and oft by a Hair
The Weal of Mankind is together bound
With that of its least Member: yet 'tis sound
And strong, yea! stronger far than if it were
Of Adamant: a Link of that so fair
Yet viewless Spiritchain, which stretches round
The Universe, and keeps the Life of Man
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Binding a Buonaparte or Cromwell just
As well as their least Subject; which nor Rust
Of Time can wear, nor Strength of Mortal rend,
So gently forcing all Things to one End!
2.
Then when thou seest the most despisëd ofGod's Creatures injured, be thou not above
Resenting it: think not that he alone
Is injured, that 'tis his Cause, not thine own;
See not in him the Outcast that he is,
But the great God insulted thus in his
Poor Form, as in the Majesty of Kings!
Then will thy Thought unfold sublimer Wings,
And from this Point of View thou'lt clearly see
That those who injure him must injure thee,
For he who injures God, must injure all,
Since God is all—and that which seems not small,
Nor insignificant in God's own Eyes,
Wilt thou, oh erring Mortal, dare despise?
3.
Thus view Injustice in whatever Form;Not when done to the Beggarman alone,
(For is not God his Father as thine own?)
But, yea! I say, tho to the least, least Worm
That crawls on God's own blessed Earth: for by
A purer and enlarged Humanity
Man blesses himself, blessing others! when
He guards his Fellow's Rights as his own, then
First truly are his own to him secured!
And that which for another he endured
Becomes an Egis, not for his sole Breast,
But for that of Mankind, the surest, best:
The heavenfallen Shield, on which depends
A Nation's Wellfare, which alone defends
It from all Foes— inviolable, yea!
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No idle Fable but a Truth divine;
Then shield with it thy Fellow's Breast and thine!
| Madmoments: or First Verseattempts | |