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Reuben and Other Poems

by Robert Leighton
Leighton, Robert (1822-1869)

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[Released at last! Released from agony!]
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REUBEN.
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ACT I.
 I. 
Scene I.
 II. 
Scene II.
 III. 
Scene III.
 IV. 
Scene IV.
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ACT II.
 I. 
Scene I.
 II. 
Scene II.
 III. 
Scene III.
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ACT III.
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Scene I.
 II. 
Scene II.
 III. 
Scene III.
 IV. 
Scene IV.
 V. 
Scene V.
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ACT IV.
 I. 
Scene I.
 II. 
Scene II.
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ACT V.
 I. 
Scene I.
 II. 
Scene II.
 III. 
Scene III.
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Scene IV.
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Scene V.
 VI. 
Scene VI.
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MISCELLANEOUS.
  
HOUSE-HUNTING.
  
SIR PETER'S CURE.
  
FORBIDDEN FRUIT.
  
THE ROOKERY.
  
THE WEASEL'S CAIRN.
  
THE LOTTERY TICKET.
  
THE WIDOW AND THE PRIEST.
  
SEVEN CHURCHES OF CLONMACNOISE.
  
THE NEGLECTED CANARY.
  
THE LAIRD OF BRETHERTON.
  
A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
  
A' BURDENS ARE LICHT, EXCEPT TO THE BEARER.
  
DRUMM'D OUT.
  
LONDON.
  
THE ALBUM.
  
SONNET.
  
STRATFORD-ON-AVON.
  
TO JANET,
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MUSINGS.
  
TO JANET,
  
SOLITUDE.
  
BOOKS AND THOUGHTS.
  
TOO MANY BOOKS.
  
INCENSE OF FLOWERS.
  
MIND'S SEASONS.
  
THE MYSTERY OF THOUGHT.
  
UNWITTING TRIBUTE.
  
LOGIC.
  
UNCLASSIC.
  
BEAUTY THE FLOWERING OF VIRTUE.
  
THE DANDELION.
  
THOUGHT SPRINGS.
  
USE OF BEAUTY.
  
SEEING.
  
HOPE'S ARGUMENT.
  
THE STREET SINGERS.
  
SELF-DENIAL.
  
FACT AND FICTION.
  
AT THE CHURCH DOOR.
  
PETTY PRIDE.
  
MASTER AND SERVANT.
  
IMAGINATION.
  
1861–62.
  
10TH MARCH, 1863.
  
5TH FEBRUARY, 1868.
  
LIVERPOOL.
  
SAILING UP THE FIRTH.
  
POET'S CORNER.

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MIND'S SEASONS.

Whence comes the mantling green of summer woods,
To clothe the boughs that have been dead so long?
And whence the thought that breaks our silent moods,
And blossoms into song?
I stand as leafless as the blacken'd trunk,
I feel no stir of any inward breath;
Of what oblivious Lethe have I drunk,
To bring this barren death?
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Has mind its seasons, like the circling earth?
Its sun that draws new being from the roots?
Its periods of long waiting? winter dearth?
Spring days? autumnal fruits?
O God of Spring, here like a winter oak
I reach to thee my bare, bleak, frozen arms,
And pray for leaves, pray for the quick'ning stroke,
Pray for the breath that warms.
And prayer is its own return, the fire
That floods the mountain tops with hope of day.
The getting of the good that we desire
Enables us to pray.
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