University of Virginia Library

SONNETS ON THE POWER OF THOUGHT.

In Converse.

Who can predict what power for distant days
Toward good or ill lies centred in a Thought
Which flashing through the mind unmeant, unsought,
Is uttered suddenly in careless phrase?
Ill that no future good can stingless make
In the effects wrought by its blighting force;—
Great good that floweth from the all-good Source,
The Fount from which all purity we take.
Sometimes thought's mighty aims in secret lurk
And labour silently, their aim concealed,
Until the crisis comes; sometimes revealed
They zealously pursue their varied work.
Reflecting wisely thus may we be taught
Not rashly to express each flippant thought.

In Writing.

If so it be with speech, how much the more
With written language! Speech perforce decays,
'Neath Time's destroying touch. Ere many days
Gone is mayhap the fruit which wise words bore:
That written doth remain,—its import not
Dependent on frail Memory's brittle thread
To keep it safe, or number with the dead
At her capricious will. None can say what
Momentous destiny may be assigned
To some brief trivial letter. Authors too
Who lightly pen, to please the public view,
Works strenuous and yet stained with vice, will find
A day of certain retribution come
When all their loud excuses will be dumb.

In Art.

The power of Thought in art! Who has not found
And marked its subtle influence? We see
Its magic in a picture wondrously,
Whose canvas by its presence made renowned
Bears witness to the fact. When we behold
A stately building, and perceive the skill
Which shapes each column at the sculptor's will
Till it attains at length th' exquisite mould
That he has long desired. When we are thrilled
By some soft cadence rippling on the ear
Of sweetest music,—as though far and near
With a celestial choir the air were filled:—
Then, and then always, may we truly find
What power of thought lies in the human mind!

In Proverbs, &c.

The power of Thought in Proverbs!—oftentimes
We find its glittering essence centred there,
All crystallized, as if indeed it were
A bright and flawless diamond.—Silly Rhymes
Which oft we hear repeated are not dross
Entirely,—here and there rare pearls of thought
Appear upon their surface, genius-wrought;
Had they not been, we must have borne a loss.
O mighty power of Thought, it may not be
Within the sphere of any man to find
Thought undiscovered by a brother-mind,
Though deep and boundless is thy shoreless sea:—
And yet thy potent pathway is the groove
In which, by thee propelled, the change-girt world doth move.