 | Touches on The Harp of Nature |  |
TO THE POOR.
Art thou ashamed of poverty? of thy
Low occupation, as it in thine eyes
Appears? then of Man and his destinies
Thou'st still to learn the end and dignity;
Did not Christ by his birth then glorify
That poverty? that men might not despise
The lowliest state, since it full means supplies
For all that makes Man holy in God's eye!
And what more would'st thou be? be quite a man,
Thine occupation, then, will not seem low;
For if thou wilt but think it not so, can
It be so? Man is boundlessly more than
His occupation, for from him must flow
Its worth: thus, if godlike himself, it must be so!
Low occupation, as it in thine eyes
Appears? then of Man and his destinies
Thou'st still to learn the end and dignity;
Did not Christ by his birth then glorify
That poverty? that men might not despise
The lowliest state, since it full means supplies
For all that makes Man holy in God's eye!
And what more would'st thou be? be quite a man,
Thine occupation, then, will not seem low;
For if thou wilt but think it not so, can
It be so? Man is boundlessly more than
His occupation, for from him must flow
Its worth: thus, if godlike himself, it must be so!
Then dare not thou, thou rich fool, to look down
On poverty: nor thou, poor man, disown
That which thy Lord, for thy sake, underwent!
But bear it like him, and the thorny crown
Of suffering, by sublime presentiment,
Will then become on thine, as on his brow,
One, not of pain, but glory even now!
On poverty: nor thou, poor man, disown
That which thy Lord, for thy sake, underwent!
But bear it like him, and the thorny crown
Of suffering, by sublime presentiment,
Will then become on thine, as on his brow,
One, not of pain, but glory even now!
| Touches on The Harp of Nature | |