 | My Mind and its Thoughts, in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays |  |
59
CHARACTER FROM LIFE.
IN REPLY TO THE QUESTION—“WHY DOES NO ONE LIKE WHOM EVERY ONE ADMIRES?”
VARRO.
With that commanding strength of brain,
Which right and wrong obey,
True to a voice whose forceful strain,
Impels the will away.
Which right and wrong obey,
True to a voice whose forceful strain,
Impels the will away.
With beauty's blessing on his face,
Eyes that with genius shine;
Each well proportioned limb, a grace
Which flattery calls divine.
Eyes that with genius shine;
Each well proportioned limb, a grace
Which flattery calls divine.
60
With wealth, whose still increasing store,
Ten thousand joys might claim,
Station, to taste the sweets of power,
In honours, wealth and fame.
Ten thousand joys might claim,
Station, to taste the sweets of power,
In honours, wealth and fame.
Say, why does Varro live unblessed,
Why not one heart commend
Him? who of every gift possessed,
But kindness and a friend.
Why not one heart commend
Him? who of every gift possessed,
But kindness and a friend.
Not one to like, whom all admire,
All praise, but none approve?—
Though frost may wake the electric fire,
It cannot kindle love.
All praise, but none approve?—
Though frost may wake the electric fire,
It cannot kindle love.
Cold is that dark and doubtful mind,
Gloomed by the clouds of care,
And colder to himself confined,
The good that labours there.
Gloomed by the clouds of care,
And colder to himself confined,
The good that labours there.
Thus winning to the dazzled sight,
The polish'd marble shows,
Fair as the pale moon's silver light,
But hard as trackless snows.
The polish'd marble shows,
Fair as the pale moon's silver light,
But hard as trackless snows.
With warmth, the hard cold marble prove,
It owns the kind controul;
But what the stony heart can move,
Or thaw the frozen soul!
It owns the kind controul;
But what the stony heart can move,
Or thaw the frozen soul!
| My Mind and its Thoughts, in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays | |