 | Three Hundred Sonnets |  |
91
SELF-RESTRAINT.
Thee from thyself to rescue and to save,O man! is God's salvation; other foes
Were easier conquest, even to the grave:
And for this end our God commandment gave
That all things whereby Nature works, in those
Should man resist, lest he should be their slave:
‘Thou shalt not’—is the law; however hot
Be wrath, or covetous wish, or low desire,
Or any selfish purpose, thou shalt Not:
Within thee lies a hidden fount of fire,
And, if with evil thou dost fan a blaze,
Woe, for the flaming house; if self-control
Chastens its fierceness into genial rays,
Rejoice! it glows the hearth-fire of the soul.
| Three Hundred Sonnets | |