Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/965

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��WILLIAM (JOHNSON) CORY 767 Mimnermus in Church

rOU promise heavens free from strife, Pure truth, and perfect change of will ; But sweet, sweet is this human life,

So sweet, I fain would breathe it still; Your chilly stars I can forgo, This warm kind world is all I know.

You say there is no substance here,

One great reality above. Back from that void I shrink in fear,

And child-like hide myself in love: Show me what angels feel. Till then I cling, a mere weak man, to men.

You bid me lift my mean desires From faltering lips and fitful veins

To sexless souls, ideal quires,

Unwearied voices, wordless strains:

My mind with fonder welcome owns

One dear dead friend's rcmember'd tones.

Forsooth the present we must give

To that which cannot pass away; All beauteous things for which we live

By laws of time and space decay. But O, the very reason why I clasp them, is because they die.

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