Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/303

 ODE TO CONSCIENCE 293

O thou, who with sharp eyes canst see

Each mean shift of hypocrisy,

Who, sparing oft the man of action,

Pitying the angry feuds of faction,

Art still most terrible to these.

Who would both God and mammon please !

Even though thou sleep, thou see'st, and wilt awaken,

And judge ; few e'er by thee are long forsaken.

Yes, thou wilt rouse, relentless even to those

Who fain had wronged, but failed to reach their foes,

Who pondered evil, but the deed refrained,

Who only wished, while chance or fear restrained.

Thou wilt disdain to ask, "Was crime committed? "

Who but designed, or willingly permitted.

Hath done the deed, and may not go acquitted.

He starved the famished that refused him bread,

And he hath stolen who only coveted ;

He stabs his victim who but hides the knife ;

He slays his foe that will not save his life ;

For 'tis the mind that murders, in thy sight ;

The heart is guilty, though the hands are white.

Man is deceived ; he sees, as in a dream,

Not what things are, but only what they seem.

He knows the act, but cannot judge the will.

The thief who walks in light loves darkness still ;

Hatred can smile, hypocrisy can pray.

Silence can lie, embraces can betray.

And fraud, even with true words, from truth can lead

astray. But thou wilt track imposture ; thou wilt trace Guile to the altar's self, and face to face Wilt meet, and wilt unmask, reckless of time and place.

Thou dost deem great what oft the world deems least ; Fierce words, harsh thoughts, even cruelty to a beast, The unnecessary blow, the wanton wound,

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