The Reliquary By Bernard and Lucy Barton. With A Prefatory Appeal for Poetry and Poets |
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HUMAN LIFE. |
 | The Reliquary |  |
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HUMAN LIFE.
Hast thou mark'd the sunbeam brighten
Rocky glen, or common bleak?
Thus can love's soft lustre lighten
Thought's stern brow, care's pallid cheek.
Rocky glen, or common bleak?
Thus can love's soft lustre lighten
Thought's stern brow, care's pallid cheek.
Hast thou on the boundless ocean
Watch'd far off the tossing bark,
Waves beneath in wild commotion
And above it clouds as dark?
Watch'd far off the tossing bark,
Waves beneath in wild commotion
And above it clouds as dark?
Let but sunshine light the billow,
Brightly gleams its distant sail
Like the leaf of some fair willow,
Fann'd by Summer's gentle gale.
Brightly gleams its distant sail
Like the leaf of some fair willow,
Fann'd by Summer's gentle gale.
Thus affection's smile can gladden
Features grave, and even stern,
And when gloomy clouds would sadden,
Grief itself to rapture turn.
Features grave, and even stern,
And when gloomy clouds would sadden,
Grief itself to rapture turn.
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Such is human life's condition,
Bleak and stormy sometimes found;
Then, in changeful, quick transition,
Sunshine scatters brightness round.
Bleak and stormy sometimes found;
Then, in changeful, quick transition,
Sunshine scatters brightness round.
None are doom'd to hopeless sorrow
If their duty they fulfil,
From its good fresh courage borrow,
And with patience bear its ill.
If their duty they fulfil,
From its good fresh courage borrow,
And with patience bear its ill.
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