 | Songs of Religion and Life |  |
224
Advice to a favourite Student on leaving College.
Dear youth, grey books no blossoms bear;
Thou hast enough of learning;
For life's green fields thy march prepare,
And take my friendly warning.
I would not have thee longer stay,
To read of others' striving;
Wield thine own arm!—the only way
To know life is by living.
Thou hast enough of learning;
For life's green fields thy march prepare,
And take my friendly warning.
I would not have thee longer stay,
To read of others' striving;
Wield thine own arm!—the only way
To know life is by living.
The brain's a small part of a man;
Though thought has wide dominions,
Thou canst not lift the smallest stone
By Speculation's pinions.
Who learns an art by lifeless rule,
Through mists will still be blinking;
The subtlest thinker is a fool,
Who spins mere webs of thinking.
Though thought has wide dominions,
Thou canst not lift the smallest stone
By Speculation's pinions.
225
Through mists will still be blinking;
The subtlest thinker is a fool,
Who spins mere webs of thinking.
The times are feverish; mark me well!
Have faith and patience by thee;
Unless thou curl into thy shell,
Thou 'lt find enough to try thee.
But that's a weak device. I know
Thou 'lt face it free and fearless;
But O! beware the greater foe,
A spirit proud and prayerless!
Have faith and patience by thee;
Unless thou curl into thy shell,
Thou 'lt find enough to try thee.
But that's a weak device. I know
Thou 'lt face it free and fearless;
But O! beware the greater foe,
A spirit proud and prayerless!
I love a bold and venturous boy,
Who, full of fresh emotion,
Launches with large and liberal joy
On life's wide-rolling ocean.
But there are rocks; and blind to steer
Were thoughtless folly's merit:
Curb thou thy force with holy fear,
And keep a watchful spirit.
Who, full of fresh emotion,
Launches with large and liberal joy
On life's wide-rolling ocean.
226
Were thoughtless folly's merit:
Curb thou thy force with holy fear,
And keep a watchful spirit.
Where eager crowds contend for pelf,
The seller and the buyer,
Each one free range seeks for himself,
And cares for nothing higher.
Make honey in an ordered hive,
Nor join the lawless scramble
Of men, with whom in life to thrive
Is with good luck to gamble.
The seller and the buyer,
Each one free range seeks for himself,
And cares for nothing higher.
Make honey in an ordered hive,
Nor join the lawless scramble
Of men, with whom in life to thrive
Is with good luck to gamble.
We live in days when all would climb
With hot, high-strung employment;
Some rage in prose, some writhe in rhyme,
All hate a calm enjoyment.
Freedom's the watchword of the hour;
But O! 'tis melancholy
When every bubbling brain has power
To drown calm thought with folly!
With hot, high-strung employment;
Some rage in prose, some writhe in rhyme,
All hate a calm enjoyment.
227
But O! 'tis melancholy
When every bubbling brain has power
To drown calm thought with folly!
The age is full of talkers. Thou
Be silent for a season,
Till slowly-ripening facts shall grow
Into a stable reason.
Pert witlings fling crude fancies round,
As wanton whim conceits them,
Pleased when from fools the echoed sound
Of their own folly greets them.
Be silent for a season,
Till slowly-ripening facts shall grow
Into a stable reason.
Pert witlings fling crude fancies round,
As wanton whim conceits them,
Pleased when from fools the echoed sound
Of their own folly greets them.
Nurse thou, where eager babble spreads,
A quiet brooding nature,
Nor strive, by lopping taller heads,
To raise thy lesser stature.
Eschew the cavilling critic's art,
The lust of loud reproving;
The brain by knowledge grows, the heart
Is larger made by loving.
A quiet brooding nature,
Nor strive, by lopping taller heads,
To raise thy lesser stature.
228
The lust of loud reproving;
The brain by knowledge grows, the heart
Is larger made by loving.
All things we cannot know. At sea
As when a good ship saileth,
Our steps within the planks are free,
Beyond all cunning faileth.
So man as by a living bond
Of circling powers is bounded;
Within the line is ours, beyond
The sharpest wit's confounded.
As when a good ship saileth,
Our steps within the planks are free,
Beyond all cunning faileth.
So man as by a living bond
Of circling powers is bounded;
Within the line is ours, beyond
The sharpest wit's confounded.
What thing thou knowest, nicely know
With curious fine dissection;
The smallest mite can something show
That chains thy rapt inspection.
Allwhere with holy caution move,
In God thy life is moving;
All things with reverent patience prove,
'Tis God's will thou art proving.
With curious fine dissection;
The smallest mite can something show
That chains thy rapt inspection.
229
In God thy life is moving;
All things with reverent patience prove,
'Tis God's will thou art proving.
What thing thou doest, bravely do;
When Heaven's clear call hath found thee,
Follow!—with fervid wheels pursue,
Though thousands bray around thee!
Yet keep thy zeal in rein; despise
No gentle preparation;
Flash not God's truth on blinking eyes,
With reckless inspiration!
When Heaven's clear call hath found thee,
Follow!—with fervid wheels pursue,
Though thousands bray around thee!
Yet keep thy zeal in rein; despise
No gentle preparation;
Flash not God's truth on blinking eyes,
With reckless inspiration!
Farewell, my brave, my bright-eyed boy!
And from the halls of learning,
Thy face, my long familiar joy,
Take, with this friendly warning.
And when with weighty truth thou'rt fraught
From Life, the earnest preacher,
Think sometimes with a kindly thought
On me, thy faithful teacher.
And from the halls of learning,
Thy face, my long familiar joy,
Take, with this friendly warning.
230
From Life, the earnest preacher,
Think sometimes with a kindly thought
On me, thy faithful teacher.
| Songs of Religion and Life | |