University of Virginia Library

Ere thy allotted days are done, thy heart
Will shrink from many a trial, and thy life
Will seem to thee a burden; yet arraign
Not the good providence of heaven, but set
A guard upon thy spirit, that its thoughts
May wait on wisdom and be unto thee
A solace and reward through all the ills
Of Time, and at thy dying hour a bliss.
The subtle Tempter will not pass thee by,
But breathe into thy heart (frail as the flower
That perisheth beneath the mildew's blight)
Unhallowed purposes; and thou wilt grow
Familiar, as all do, with man's dark deeds,
And learn to think of them without a thrill,
A shudder and a quailing of the heart.
Look not around thee, on the ways of men,
Habitual deceit and black atrocity,
To seek the Truth Revealed, for all earth's sons,
Unchecked by human law, have ever been
Less merciful than fiends that have no hope.
But roam abroad the forest and the vale,
The sunny mountain side, the thymy brook,
And hold communion with the God within thee,
And bend before His altar, and hide not
A thought the whole wide world would dare to blame.
Take careful note, not of the overt act,
But of the concealed occasion of the fall
Of many from the summit of men's hopes.
Be faithful to thyself, howe'er untrue
Dissembling friends may prove; from evil thoughts
And unadvised suspicions turn away—
Who evil speak of others will of thee.
But, most of all, take watchful heed of him
Whose eye may light thy bosom like a sun,
Revealing all its passions! Useth he
Irreverent speech of holy things or swerves
From godlike honour, or the chaste respect
From man to woman due?—Hear thou no more!
He ne'er can be a lord deserving thee
Who, when a lover, thus forgets himself.

Lady! go on thy way, unfearing aught,
So thou dost ne'er desert thyself! May Time
Behold thee blest as feeling hearts should be,
And leave thee in thy age far happier days
Than those few years, which, like a midnight cloud,
Have darkened the sweet sunlight of my heart!

O thou! the present and the Past,
The Future, the Eternal Lord!
Whose every breath can bless or blast,
Teach me the council of Thy Word!

While friends forsake, and foes oppress,
And Time is veil'd in storms of gloom,
Teach me that one great happiness
That lives beyond the mouldering tomb!

My errors, faults and sins forgive!
Lighten my path and cheer my heart!
In Thee, to Thee I only live—
Thou the supreme and Righteous art!