O poet! above all men blest,
Take heed that thus thou store them;
Love,
Hope, and Faith shall ever rest,
Sweet birds (upon how sweet a nest!)Watchfully brooding o'er them.
And from those flowers of
Scatter thou many a blessed seed,
Wherefrom an offspring may
To cheer the hearts and light the
Of after-voyagers in their need.
They shall not fall on stony ground,
But, yielding all their hundred-fold,
Shall shed a peacefulness around,
Whose strengthening joy may not be told!
So shall thy name be blest of all,
And thy remembrance never die;
For of that seed shall surely
In the fair garden of Eternity,
Exult then m the
Of this thy work so holy,
Yet be not thou one jot the
Humble and meek and lowly,
But let throe exultation
The reverence of a bended knee;
And by thy life a poem write,
Built strongly day by day—on the rock of Truth and
Its deep foundations lay.
