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73
STANZAS
[_]
Written the 7th and 10th of February, ON THE DEATH OF MARY BRAITHWAITE, THE THIRD SISTER OF THE AUTHOR.
1
If innocence, and saint-like truthPersisted in from earliest youth,
If passiveness so sweet,
In her so patient was, it might,
If praise it sought, that praise excite
Which active virtues meet.
2
If all that marks the christian here,The soul devout, the ready tear,
For every child of woe;
If these, dear Mary, might require
The votive lay, well from my lyre
The elegy may flow.
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3
The tender grace in thee enshrined,Thy patient gentleness of mind,
Thy saint-like purity,
Perfect exemption from each thought
Of ill in others; thy untaught,
And deep humility;
4
Thy tender care, in deed and word,That wrong should never be incurred
From thee by any one:
Thy habit all things to refer
To the Almighty Arbiter,
And Him to serve alone:
5
To those that knew thee, these might wellInspire the wish like thee t'excel
In every christian grace:
Thou liv'st in each of these enshrined;
Each gains new strength, thee called to mind,
To run the christian race.
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6
Oh, what a fool were such as thou,Did no dread Being hear the vow
Which those like thee profess,
To die to every human hope,
And give to no fond wish a scope,
Save those which heaven may bless.
7
No wish hadst thou, but such as sprungFrom heaven! To its blest mansions clung
All hopes which thee did rule:
If vain those hopes, like hopes beneath,
Then thou of every child of Eve
Wert most indeed a fool!
8
But since in the dread human plan,No other instinct's given to man
With purpose to confound,
No end that cheers its appetence:—
We may, with faith, infer from hence,
Thou soughtedst, and hast found.
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9
Say is it not a startling fact,Thousands are drawn the part to act
Of dying, so to live!
Or we must deem our life a lie,
Or in such fact as this we spy
A pledge that heaven will give.
10
From Heaven, a pledge, immortal lifeTo give to those who to the strife
Of duty nobly press:
For as in other instincts, we,
An end, by intuition, see,
So faith can own no less.
11
But little, little can the world,Little those sons of men who're hurled
In passion's ceaseless maze:
Tell what the conflict is to those
Who feel the food from heaven that flows
Alone their want allays.
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12
Oh, say ye, who have once drunk deepOf living waters; who must reap
Immortally, or die,
From sensuous joys how many fasts,
How much toil your's long as life lasts,
And inward agony!
13
How many tears ye shed alone!How many a sign ye heave unknown
Which no one seems to hear!
How many longings that your breast
Might be like others, blessing, blest,
Unfolded to no ear!
14
How many times, when nigh to faint,Ye fain would have the hard restraint,
The austere interdict,
Which severs you from things of sense,
Repealed; and mockings which from hence
Men of the world inflict.
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15
How many times, when ye're gainsaid,When ye are scoffed, when all upbraid,
Ye live in solitude!
A solitude which few can tell;
A solitude which those know well
Whom heaven hath here renewed!
16
But bear ye up courageously!A day will come, a time will be
When you in your turn shall,
That you've been willing to be poor
On earth, heaven's interest to secure,
Triumphantly recall.
17
Not that we mean that what is done,So that thereby a prize be won,
Can ever win that prize!
No! we to all of self must die,
Or ere supreme reality
Is opened to our eyes.
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18
We speak of consequence, not cause,Heaven comes from faith in heavenly laws,
But comes alone to those
Who, by a heavenly instinct led,
Feel bound, though living, to be dead,
To all the world bestows!
19
These drawn by love, and deemed as fools,Expedience calculating rules
Will loyally disdain.
They know that God doth love that mind,
Acting in passive meekness, blind,
Which love's pure laws constrain.
20
Oh Mary, thou, by such as these,Might'st well amid degenerate days
Be as a pattern held!
Thou said'st not much; professedst less;
But thy whole life did best express
What aim that life impelled!
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21
In scenes domestic thou wert seenTo most advantage: there serene
Thy virtues knew no cloud:
Not like our modern matrons, thou,
With theories primed; in all the shew
Of education proud!
22
Thou sattest like the brooding hen,Thy little ones round thee! No ken
From thee did ever roam,
Like as from those of baffled aim
In prouder flatteries, to claim
Divinity at home!
23
Love was thy ruling principle;Love that has neither wish, nor will,
Save those which end in love:
As others' praise thou ne'er hadst sought,
Their praise or blame ne'er caused thy thought
From love's calm sphere to rove.
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24
Thou little wishedst child of thineIn vain accomplishments to shine,
Nor yet, with cynic tongue,
Sought'st thou to check its growth, if chance
Some genial exuberance
In nature's order sprung.
25
All affectation thou didst hate:To be, not to appear: to wait
In patience for the hour,
Was thine, when thou, by choice of mood,
Of time, and place, couldst call up good,
Clothed from above with power!
26
Thou mov'dst in patience, and wert stillIn mind; seeking to work the will
Of Him who rules above:
Of Him who, to his little ones,
Gives to repress earth's mightiest sons,
With energy of love!
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27
Yes; thou, in thy humility,Thy gentleness, simplicity,
Might'st be an instance quoted,
That God, the worldly to confound,
Than strength more signally hath crowned,
Weakness to him devoted.
28
By weakness here none can suspectIs meant deficient intellect;
That lowliness we mean
Which dare not move in its own will;
That finds its strength in being still:
In anguish is serene.
29
Though tender thou, and delicate,And, in thy youth, on thee did wait,
To fallen flesh and blood,
Those comforts which are most endeared;
As one that all defilement feared,
These were by thee withstood!
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30
Why, if to render man the sportOf fate, is he thus taught to court
E'en voluntary pain?
Why see we not each brutish tribe
The strange obliquity imbibe?
From appetites refrain?
31
'Twould be as easy so to makeInstinctively e'en brutes forsake
That which they most desired,
If this were but a play in Him
Who rules the universal scheme,
And for no end required.
32
By instinct thwarting instinct, soBrutes might the like confusion know
As that of tongues in Babel,
Were it, as sophists oft have written
Men are with love of penance smitten,
To be their Maker's fable.
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33
Yes, if entire perplexity,And one grand universal lie
Were that which heaven devised,
Thus it might be! But no, 'tis proved
That man by heaven is chiefly lov'd,
Since man's alone “chastised.”
34
Yes, man—and man alone is left!The noblest of all creatures 'reft
Alone, of powers to reap
A satisfaction full, entire,
From what as creatures men desire,
To sleep, to feed,—and weep!
35
Man is the sole discordant thing;In man alone there jars a string
Of endless discontent:
He is, 'till influence from above
Tune him to harmony of love,
Like shattered instrument.
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36
What, Mary, though thou'st early paidThe debt to nature! All is said
Which need our care engage,
When 'tis pronounced, “thy task is done,
And well!” and thou hast fairly won,
By spotless life, old age!
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