 | Blank verse (1798) |  |
53
ADDRESS TO WEALTH.
WRITTEN JULY 1797.
Thou hateful Mammon, leave my loathing sight!
I view in thee the murderer of those joys
That satisfy the heart, with hard lean hand
Clenching the steel which severs lastingly
Humanity's best ties! Self-centring fiend!
Thou sealest every eye, lest any more
It catch the charms of nature, or perceive
The vivid movements of the human soul
Pourtray'd in fleshly characters; thou numb'st
The nerve that throbb'd so finely to the grasp
Of generous friendship, or of 'witching love
The more intense embrace; quenchest the glow
Of wide benevolence; mock'st her holy schemes
Of amplest bliss, and on her very lip
Freezest the mellow sigh, just risen to soothe
A passing wretched one!
I view in thee the murderer of those joys
That satisfy the heart, with hard lean hand
Clenching the steel which severs lastingly
Humanity's best ties! Self-centring fiend!
Thou sealest every eye, lest any more
It catch the charms of nature, or perceive
The vivid movements of the human soul
Pourtray'd in fleshly characters; thou numb'st
The nerve that throbb'd so finely to the grasp
Of generous friendship, or of 'witching love
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Of wide benevolence; mock'st her holy schemes
Of amplest bliss, and on her very lip
Freezest the mellow sigh, just risen to soothe
A passing wretched one!
I hate thee, Mammon!
I hate thy servants; hate them, Heaven, as those
Who counteract thy plans!
I hate thy servants; hate them, Heaven, as those
Who counteract thy plans!
To me, methinks,
'Twere well to humanize the heart, t' expand
The active soul, t' embrace, with one wide wish,
The universe, and move (uncentred here)
As he that travels to a better world!
One infinite, benevolent, and wise,
Works through extended space, and we but live,
Living in him! Learn then, my soul, to look
With indefatigable gaze to God;
And struggle (aye, annihilating self)
To view the bearings of the complex whole
From him, and with him. This is the best aim,
The perfect triumph of redeemed man!
'Twere well to humanize the heart, t' expand
The active soul, t' embrace, with one wide wish,
The universe, and move (uncentred here)
As he that travels to a better world!
One infinite, benevolent, and wise,
Works through extended space, and we but live,
Living in him! Learn then, my soul, to look
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And struggle (aye, annihilating self)
To view the bearings of the complex whole
From him, and with him. This is the best aim,
The perfect triumph of redeemed man!
| Blank verse (1798) | |