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Madmoments: or First Verseattempts

By a Bornnatural. Addressed to the Lightheaded of Society at Large, by Henry Ellison

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THE POET'S LAMP.

What matters it, tho' to the godlike Toil
My Health, nay, even Life itself must be
Offered, the Price of Immortality?
Let no low Thought the Sacrifice then soil;
The Poet's Lamp is nourished not with Oil,

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Gross and material, like that which we
Employ the Labour of our Hands to see,
When busy with low Cares and Life's Turmoil,
But with the purest Naptha of the Soul:
Purer than that which from the Stars doth shine:
And kindled first by Truth, with her divine
And quenchless Torch, it lights him to the Goal:
To the great Spirit of this lovely Whole
Burning like Lamp before the inmost Shrine!