The Poetical Works of the late Mrs Mary Robinson including many pieces never before published. In Three Volumes |
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 | III. |
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SONNET. TO PHILANTHROPY. |
 | The Poetical Works of the late Mrs Mary Robinson |  |
117
SONNET. TO PHILANTHROPY.
First blessing frail mortality can know!
Philanthropy divine! all-healing pow'r,
Wand'ring untir'd to seek the haunts of woe,
Where ruthless sorrow lingers to devour;
Thou scorn'st the mummery of empty show;
Mankind thy kindred! while from pole to pole,
They seek the same inevitable goal,
Stung by distinctions, that from custom grow.
Philanthropy divine! all-healing pow'r,
Wand'ring untir'd to seek the haunts of woe,
Where ruthless sorrow lingers to devour;
Thou scorn'st the mummery of empty show;
Mankind thy kindred! while from pole to pole,
They seek the same inevitable goal,
Stung by distinctions, that from custom grow.
Thou know'st all light is less than mental day,
The Ethiop's dusky brow, Circassia's rose,
Are but the varying tints of breathing clay!
Life's gilded pageant, dazzling as it goes,
Stops at the sepulchre, and fades away,
To let the beggar and the prince repose.
The Ethiop's dusky brow, Circassia's rose,
Are but the varying tints of breathing clay!
Life's gilded pageant, dazzling as it goes,
Stops at the sepulchre, and fades away,
To let the beggar and the prince repose.
| The Poetical Works of the late Mrs Mary Robinson | |