The Poetry of Real Life A New Edition, Much Enlarged and Improved. By Henry Ellison |
FOLLY AND WISDOM. |
The Poetry of Real Life | ||
34
FOLLY AND WISDOM.
Thus may one know the fool from the wise man:Give to the former all that hope can crave,
All that, between the cradle and the grave,
The ever-busy fancy's brain can plan,
The end will find him such as he began,
Unformed within, unchanged in all things, save
Grey hairs and wrinkles; let the other have
Of stern reality the scantiest span,
With means commensurate, yet therein he
Can fashion forth a world of beauty, make
Mere earthly things subserve Eternity:
He, in sublime content, Want's bread will break
As 'twere the bread of immortality,
Yea! Faith to that can change it for his sake!
The Poetry of Real Life | ||