 | Egeria, or, The Spirit of Nature and Other Poems |  |
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ALTERNATION.
ADVICE TO A HARD STUDENT.
I
Day follows Night; the spring-time budsAre born of winter snow,
And for the sake of summer leaves
The March Nor'-easters blow.
December weaves the robe of May,
And June's young blossoms drop,
That Amalthea's horn may gleam
With ripeness to the top.
II
Did Night for ever show her stars,Or Noonday ever shine;
Were orchards in perpetual fruit,
What loss were thine and mine?
All blessings, beauties, and delights
From Alternation rise;
And constant Nature lives in change
Beneficently wise.
III
Then vary thy incessant task,Nor plod each weary day,
As if thy life were thing of earth—
A servant to its clay.
87
Some contemplations high:
Though toil be just, though gold be good,
Look upward to the sky.
IV
Take pleasure for thy limbs at morn;At noontide wield the pen;
Converse to-night with moon and stars;
To-morrow talk with men.
Cull garlands in the fields and bowers,
Or toy with running brooks;
Then rifle in thy chamber lone
The honey of thy books.
V
If in the wrestlings of the mindA gladiator strong,
Give scope and freedom to thy thought,—
But strive not over-long.
Climb to the mountain-top serene,
And let life's surges beat,
With all their whirl of striving men,
Far, far beneath thy feet.
VI
But stay not ever on the height,'Mid intellectual snow;
Come down betimes to tread the grass,
And roam where waters flow;
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At the domestic hearth;
Come down to share the warmth of love,
And join the children's mirth.
VII
If thou wouldst read in Wisdom's book,Do justice to thy mind,
Nor fix thy gaze upon the sun,
For fear of growing blind.
Though Wisdom haunt the solitude,
Green wood, or moorland brown,
Yet there is Wisdom wise as she
In highways of the town.
VIII
Let love of books, and love of fields,And love of men combine
To feed in turns thy mental life,
And fan its flame divine;
Let outer frame, and inner soul,
Maintain a balance true,
Till every string on Being's lyre
Give forth its music due.
IX
Keep time with Nature; sow or reapObedient to her call;
Nor for one season's flower or fruit
Renounce the wealth of all.
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As now succeeds to then:
So shall thy life adjust its powers,
And thou be man of men.
| Egeria, or, The Spirit of Nature and Other Poems | |