 | The Poetical Works of (Richard Monckton Milnes) Lord Houghton |  |
212
XII. CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE.
TO HARRIET MARTINEAU.
Mortal! that standest on a point of time,
With an eternity on either hand,
Thou hast one duty above all sublime,
Where thou art placed serenely there to stand:
With an eternity on either hand,
Thou hast one duty above all sublime,
Where thou art placed serenely there to stand:
To stand undaunted by the threatening death,
Or harder circumstance of living doom,
Nor less untempted by the odorous breath
Of Hope, that rises even from the tomb.
Or harder circumstance of living doom,
Nor less untempted by the odorous breath
Of Hope, that rises even from the tomb.
For Hope will never dull the present pain,
And Time will never keep thee safe from fall,
Unless thou hast in thee a mind to reign
Over thyself, as God is over all.
And Time will never keep thee safe from fall,
Unless thou hast in thee a mind to reign
Over thyself, as God is over all.
'Tis well on deeds of good, though small, to thrive,
'Tis well some part of ill, though small, to cure,
'Tis well with onward, upward, hopes to strive,
Yet better and diviner to endure.
'Tis well some part of ill, though small, to cure,
'Tis well with onward, upward, hopes to strive,
Yet better and diviner to endure.
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What but this virtue's solitary power,
Through all the lusts and dreams of Greece and Rome,
Bore the selected spirits of the hour
Safe to a distant, immaterial home?
Through all the lusts and dreams of Greece and Rome,
Bore the selected spirits of the hour
Safe to a distant, immaterial home?
What but this lesson, resolutely taught,
Of Resignation, as God's claim and due,
Hallows the sensuous hopes of Eastern thought,
And makes Mohammed's mission almost true?
Of Resignation, as God's claim and due,
Hallows the sensuous hopes of Eastern thought,
And makes Mohammed's mission almost true?
But in that patience was the seed of scorn—
Scorn of the world and brotherhood of man;
Not patience such as in the manger born
Up to the cross endured its earthly span.
Scorn of the world and brotherhood of man;
Not patience such as in the manger born
Up to the cross endured its earthly span.
Thou must endure, yet loving all the while,
Above, yet never separate from, thy kind,—
Meet every frailty with the gentlest smile,
Though to no possible depth of evil blind.
Above, yet never separate from, thy kind,—
Meet every frailty with the gentlest smile,
Though to no possible depth of evil blind.
This is the riddle thou hast life to solve;
But in the task thou shalt not work alone:
For, while the worlds about the sun revolve,
God's heart and mind are ever with his own!
But in the task thou shalt not work alone:
For, while the worlds about the sun revolve,
God's heart and mind are ever with his own!
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