The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott Edited by his Son Edwin Elliott ... A New and Revised Edition: Two Volumes |
 | I. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| II. |
 | The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott |  |
264
SONG.
[“The Home of Taste,” say souls of dust]
“The Home of Taste,” say souls of dust,
“Is not for men who toil:
For bread alone they till, and must,
Life's hopeless soil.”
“Is not for men who toil:
For bread alone they till, and must,
Life's hopeless soil.”
But here comes he whom no one knows,
The thrall of tasteless power;
Why plucks he, as he homeward goes,
The hawthorn flower?
The thrall of tasteless power;
Why plucks he, as he homeward goes,
The hawthorn flower?
Red Rose, that lov'st the cottage door,
If hope within there be!
Why stops a wretch so tired and poor,
To look on thee?
If hope within there be!
Why stops a wretch so tired and poor,
To look on thee?
Oh, yet the greatest and the least
A Home of Taste will find!
And Knowledge spread her beauteous feast
For all mankind!
A Home of Taste will find!
And Knowledge spread her beauteous feast
For all mankind!
The only high and heart-based throne
Is unclass'd virtue's prize;
For who are great? The good alone,
They only wise.
Is unclass'd virtue's prize;
For who are great? The good alone,
They only wise.
265
And what, sweet rose, sweet hawthorn flower,
To hind, or artisan,
Are Taste's pure charm, and Beauty's power,
But God in Man?
To hind, or artisan,
Are Taste's pure charm, and Beauty's power,
But God in Man?
| The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott | |