 | [Poems by Cary in] The Poetical Works Of Alice and Phoebe Cary |  |
GOOD AND EVIL.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones.
Julius Cæsar.
The good is oft interred with their bones.
Julius Cæsar.
Once when the messenger that stays
For all, beside me stood,
I mused on what great Shakespeare says
Of evil and of good.
For all, beside me stood,
151
Of evil and of good.
And shall the evil I have done
Live after me? I said;
When lo! a splendor like the sun
Shone round about my bed.
Live after me? I said;
When lo! a splendor like the sun
Shone round about my bed.
And a sweet spirit of the skies
Near me, yet all apart,
In whispers like the low wind's sighs,
Spake to my listening heart;
Near me, yet all apart,
In whispers like the low wind's sighs,
Spake to my listening heart;
Saying, your poet, reverenced thus,
For once hath been unwise;
The good we do lives after us,
The evil 't is that dies!
For once hath been unwise;
The good we do lives after us,
The evil 't is that dies!
Evil is earthy, of the earth,—
A thing of pain and crime,
That scarcely sends a shadow forth
Beyond the bounds of time.
A thing of pain and crime,
That scarcely sends a shadow forth
Beyond the bounds of time.
But good, in substance, dwells above
This discontented sphere,
Extending only, through God's love,
Uncertain shadows here.
This discontented sphere,
Extending only, through God's love,
Uncertain shadows here.
| [Poems by Cary in] The Poetical Works Of Alice and Phoebe Cary | |