OF ANTICIPATION. THOU hast seen many sorrows, travel-stained pilgrim of the world, But that which hath vexed thee most, hath been the looking for evil; And though calamities have crossed thee, and misery been heaped on thy head, Yet ills that never happened have chiefly made thee wretched. The sting of pain and the edge of pleasure are blunted by long ex pectation, For the gall and the balm alike are diluted in the waters of pa tience; And often thou sippest sweetness, ere the cup is dashed from thy lip; Or drainest the gall of fear, while evil is passing by thy dwelling. A man too careful of danger liveth in continual torment, But a cheerful expecter of the best hath a fountain of joy within him: Yea, though the breath of disappointment should chill the sanguine heart, 1 Speedily gloweth it again, warmed by the live embers of hope; Though the black and heavy surge close above the head for a mo ment, Yet the happy buoyancy of Confidence riseth superior to Despair. eyes, The evil he feared shall come, for the soil is ready for the seed, And suspicion hath coldly put aside the hand that was ready to help him. Therefore look up, sad spirit; be strong, thou coward heart, Or fear will make thee wretched, though evil follow not behind; Cease to anticipate misfortune, there are still many chances of escape; But if it come, be courageous; face it, and conquer thy calamity. There is not an enemy so stout as to storm and take the fortress of the mind, Unless its infirmity turn traitor, and fear unbar the gates. The valiant standeth as a rock, and the billows break upon him; Yet oftentimes is evil but a braggart, that provoketh and will not fight; Or the feint of a subtle fencer, who measureth his thrust elsewhere; And the weak hath quailed in fear, while the firm hath been glad in his confidence. OF HIDDEN USES. THE sea-wort (3) floating on the waves, or rolled up high along the shore, Ye counted useless and vile, heaping on it names of contempt; ignorance, For health is in the freshness of its savor, and it cumbereth the beech with wealth; Comforting the tossings of pain with its violet-tinctured essence, And by its humbler ashes enriching many proud. Be this, then, a lesson to thy soul, that thou reckon nothing worth less, Before thou heedest not its use, nor knowest the virtues thereof. And herein, as thou walkest by the sea, shall weeds be a type and an earnest Of the stored and uncounted riches lying hid in all creatures of God: There be flowers making glad the desert, and roots fattening the soil, And jewels in the secret deep, scattered among groves of coral, Nor the willow lent its bark, nor the nightshade its vanquished poison; Not long hath the twisted leaf, the fragrant gift of China, Nor that nutritious root, the boon of far Peru, Nor the many-colored dahlia, nor the gorgeous, flaunting cactus, Nor the multitude of fruits and flowers ministered to life and luxury; Even so, there be virtues yet unknown in the wasted foliage of the elm, In the sun-dried harebell of the downs, and the hyacinth drinking in the meadow, In the sycamore's winged fruit, and the facet-cut cones of the cedar; When acorns give out fragrant drink, (5) and the sap of the linden is as fatness; For every green herb, from the lotus to the darnel, Is rich with delicate aids to help incurious man. STILL, Mind is up and stirring, and pryeth in the corners of contrivance, Often from the dark recesses picking out bright seeds of truth: Knowledge hath clipped the lightning's wings, and mewed it up for a purpose, Training to some domestic task the fiery bird of heaven; Tamed is the spirit of the storm, to slave in all peaceful arts, To walk with husbandry and science; to stand in the vanguard against death: And the chemist balanceth his elements with more than magic skill, Commanding stones that they be bread, and draining sweetness out of wormwood. Yet man, heedless of a God, counteth up vain reckonings, Fearing to be jostled and starved out, by the too prolific increase of his kind; And asketh, in unbelieving dread, for how few years to come Will the black cellars of the world yield unto him fuel for his winter. Might not the wide, waste sea be pent within narrower bounds? Might not the arm of diligence make the tangled wilderness a garden? And for aught thou canst tell, there may be a thousand methods is plenty; God's blessing giveth increase, and with it larger than enough. SEARCH out the wisdom of Nature; there is depth in all her doings; She seemeth prodigal of power, yet her rules are the maxims of frugality: The plant refresheth the air, and the earth filtereth the water, There is use in the prisoned air, that swelleth the pods of the labur num; Design in the venomed thorns, that sentinel the leaves of the nettle; A final cause for the aromatic gum, that congealeth the moss around a rose ; A reason for each blade of grass, that reareth its small spire. How knoweth discontented man what a train of ills might follow, If the lowest menial of nature knew not her secret office? If the thistle never sprang up, to mock the loose husbandry of indolence, Or the pestilence never swept away an unknown curse from among men? Would ye crush the buzzing myriads that float on the breath of the evening? Would ye trample the creatures of God that people the rotting fruit? Seeing the wholesome root bring forth a poisonous berry; For otherwhile falleth it out that truth, driven to extremities, O, blinded is thine eye, if it see not just aptitude in all things; THE sage, and the beetle at his feet, hath each a ministration to perform; The brier and the palm have the wages of life, rendering scrret service. Neither is it thus alone with the definite existences of matter; But motion and sound, circumstance and quality, yea, all things have their office. - The zephyr playing with an aspen leaf, the earthquake that rendeth a continent; The moonbeam silvering a ruined arch, the desert wave dashing the stops of a shepherd's pipe; and the wood-dove calling to the grace of the stately swan; The fierceness looking from the lynx's eye, and the dull stupor of the sloth: To these, and to all, is there added each its USE, though man considereth it lightly; For Power hath ordained nothing which Economy saw not needful. ALL things being are essential to the vast ubiquity of God; Neither is there one thing overmuch, nor freed from honorable servitude. |