| |
| WHY thus longing, thus forever sighing | |
| For the far off, unattained, and dim, | |
| While the beautiful, all round thee lying, | |
| Offers up its low perpetual hymn? | |
| |
| Wouldst thou listen to its gentle teaching, | 5 |
| All thy restless yearnings it would still; | |
| Leaf and flower and laden bee are preaching | |
| Thine own sphere, though humble, first to fill. | |
| |
| Poor indeed thou must be, if around thee | |
| Thou no ray of light and joy canst throw,— | 10 |
| If no silken cord of love hath bound thee | |
| To some little world through weal and woe; | |
| |
| If no dear eyes thy fond love can brighten,— | |
| No fond voices answer to thine own; | |
| If no brother’s sorrow thou canst lighten | 15 |
| By daily sympathy and gentle tone. | |
| |
| Not by deeds that win the crowd’s applauses, | |
| Not by works that gain thee world-renown, | |
| Not by martyrdom or vaunted crosses, | |
| Canst thou win and wear the immortal crown. | 20 |
| |
| Daily struggling, though unloved and lonely, | |
| Every day a rich reward will give; | |
| Thou wilt find, by hearty striving only, | |
| And truly loving, thou canst truly live. | |
| |
| Dost thou revel in the rosy morning, | 25 |
| When all nature hails the Lord of light, | |
| And his smile, the mountain-tops adorning, | |
| Robes yon fragrant fields in radiance bright? | |
| |
| Other hands may grasp the field and forest, | |
| Proud proprietors in pomp may shine; | 30 |
| But with fervent love if thou adorest, | |
| Thou art wealthier,—all the world is thine. | |
| |
| Yet if through earth’s wide domains thou rovest, | |
| Sighing that they are not thine alone, | |
| Not those fair fields, but thyself thou lovest, | 35 |
| And their beauty and thy wealth are gone. | |
| |
| Nature wears the color of the spirit; | |
| Sweetly to her worshipper she sings; | |
| All the glow, the grace she doth inherit, | |
| Round her trusting child she fondly flings. | 40 |
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