Ballads for the Times (Now first collected,) Geraldine, A Modern Pyramid, Bartenus, A Thousand Lines, and other poems. By Martin F. Tupper. A new Edition, enlarged and revised |
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Selfishness.
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 | Ballads for the Times |  |
76
Selfishness.
A Ballad for the Worldly.
How little and how lightly
We care for one another!
How seldom and how slightly
Consider each a brother!
For all the world is every man
To his own self alone,
And all beside no better than
A thing he doesn't own.
We care for one another!
How seldom and how slightly
Consider each a brother!
For all the world is every man
To his own self alone,
And all beside no better than
A thing he doesn't own.
And O, the shame and sadness,
To see how insincerely
The heart, that in its gladness,
Went forth to love men dearly,
Is chill'd, and all its warmth repell'd
As just a low mistake,
And half the cordial yearnings quell'd
It felt for others' sake.
To see how insincerely
The heart, that in its gladness,
Went forth to love men dearly,
Is chill'd, and all its warmth repell'd
As just a low mistake,
And half the cordial yearnings quell'd
It felt for others' sake.
The service it would render
Is call'd intrusive boldness,
And thus, that heart so tender,
Now hardening to coldness,
Returns, returns,—a blighted thing!
To scorn those early days,
The freshness of its green young spring,
Its beauty and its praise.
Is call'd intrusive boldness,
And thus, that heart so tender,
Now hardening to coldness,
Returns, returns,—a blighted thing!
To scorn those early days,
The freshness of its green young spring,
Its beauty and its praise.
| Ballads for the Times | |