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Sonnets and Other Poems

By John K. Ingram
Ingram, John K. (1823-1907)

collapse sectionI. 
I. LOVE AND SORROW.
  
DELGANY.
 II. 
II. THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW.
 III. 
III. DANTEAN DREAMS.
 IV. 
IV. DANTEAN DREAMS.
 V. 
V. DANTEAN DREAMS.
 VI. 
VI. DANTEAN DREAMS.
 VII. 
VII. DANTEAN DREAMS.
 VIII. 
VIII. DANTEAN DREAMS.
 IX. 
IX. DANTEAN DREAMS.
 X. 
X. LOVE'S TEACHINGS.
 XI. 
XI. AN APPEAL.
 XII. 
XII. VISITATIONS.
 XIII. 
XIII. PAST AND PRESENT.
 XIV. 
XIV. THE ANGELUS.
 XV. 
XV.
 XVI. 
XVI.
 XVII. 
XVII.
 XVIII. 
XVIII. HALLOWED GROUND.
 XIX. 
XIX.
 XX. 
XX.
 XXI. 
XXI. TREASURED WORDS.
collapse sectionII. 
II. THE RELIGION OF HUMANITY.
 I. 
I. TO THE READER.
 II. 
II. TRANSFIGURATION.
 III. 
III. TRANSFIGURATION.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
 VI. 
VI. GUARDIAN ANGELS.
 VII. 
VII. INTERPRETERS.
 VIII. 
VIII.
 IX. 
IX. PISGAH.
 X. 
X. ‘UTINAM VIDEREM.’
 XI. 
XI. THE CHILDHOOD OF HUMANITY.
 XII. 
XII. THE HUMAN HERITAGE.
 XIII. 
XIII.
 XIV. 
XIV. THE NEW SYNTHESIS.
 XV. 
XV. MEA CULPA.
 XVI. 
XVI.
 XVII. 
XVII. DE PROFUNDIS.
 XVIII. 
XVIII. A POSITIVIST SOLEMNITY.
 XIX. 
XIX. A RELIGIOUS SYMBOL.
 XX. 
XX. THE MODERN FETISHISM.
 XXI. 
XXI.
  
THE TRIUMPH OF HUMANITY:
collapse sectionIII. 
III. MISCELLANEOUS.
  
A NATION'S WEALTH.
  
SOCIAL HEREDITY.
  
SOCIAL ORIGINS.
  
SAINT PAUL.
  
THE SOCIAL FUTURE.
  
PASTOR AB AMPHRYSO.
  
STREAMS.
  
NATIONAL PRESAGE.
  
A PROTEST.
  
MAJUBA.
  
ON READING THE SONNET BY R.C.D.,
  
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE TRANSVAAL.
  
1899.
  
A MONITION.
  
A FILIAL TRIBUTE.
  
SIR L. ALMA-TADEMA'S ‘WOMEN OF AMPHISSA.’
  
NOSTALGIA.
  
WINGED THOUGHTS.
  
[How brief our dates! how soon Death apprehends]
  
[Would'st thou be economical of Time]
  
A FRAGMENT.
  
TO A.J.
  
[The moon was bright that Autumn night]
  
[‘Vos plaudite!’ th' imperial Roman said]
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VERSICLES.
  
[What is the watchword of the coming ages?]
  
[Content thee to obey: thou would'st not tread]
  
[‘How to be happy?’—smiling, spoke the sage—]
  
[When in a man the flower of courtesy]
  
[Each nation master at its own fireside—]
  
[Live for thyself, thy pleasure and thy gain]
  
[The Records of the Time each morning bring]
  
[‘How sacred is this place,’ in awe I cried]
  
[The thoughts that wait upon the uninspired]
  
[As down the westward slope of life we move]
  
[Fain would I serve my brethren. How shall I]
  
[Be not too much exalted, if to-day]
  
[Despair not, if thy spirit-fire burns low]
  
[‘These thoughts are old.’ True; but each race of men]
  
THE MEMORY OF THE DEAD.

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47

XI. THE CHILDHOOD OF HUMANITY.

The human child, arriving on earth's shore,
Finds itself welcomed to a loving breast,
And sweetly fed, and lapp'd in soothing rest;
And, when the years of others' rule are o'er,
Wise counsel meets him, and the gather'd lore
Of the past ages' loftiest souls and best;
And so, unless his lot be all unblest,
He grows in heart and head from more to more.
But when the race was born, and on its way
First enter'd, who its dubious steps could guide?
From out itself it framed the needed stay.
It shaped ideal beings to preside
O'er its dim march, and in their fancied sway
Its own high thoughts and aims personified.
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