 | Touches on The Harp of Nature |  |
1
HUMAN NATURE.
Esteem it godlike to be “man:” to bearAll the conditions of humanity;
Think nought can disennoble thee, save thy
Own thinking so! for that indeed, that were
To do so thoroughly—not the low care
E'en for the bread that perishes, for by
That “man” must live: the sweat, th' obscurity,
The hodden gray which Poverty must wear!
Deem these all godlike, and such they will grow!
Thou canst not think too grandly, no! of man,
Nor of thyself, as one! and sure we owe
Respect to our ownselves, and, all we can,
Should strive t' exalt that nature, which (to make
It holy and respectworth in our eyes)
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Upon him, aye, and with more miseries
Than ever fell to man, thereby to show
How high he thought of it! And if he so
Respect us, shall we then respect our own-
Selves less? Shall that which he himself has shown
Worthy of all exertion, and which he
Assumed to prove so, seem mean unto thee,
Oh man, for whom he did it, whom alone
He thought of? God forbid! Then be but thou
A man, like him: for has he not taught thee how?
And being so, thou canst not fail to see
How godlike 'tis to be a “man:” to be,
Yea, e'en a beggar! for upon his brow
God's finger has engraved “Humanity!”
| Touches on The Harp of Nature | |