Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/413

 ODE TO TRUTH 403

But, when once more the new reviving spring

Hath waked each warbler and each stream unbound,

And cheerful May hath raised her hands to fling Her flowery carpet o'er the moistened ground,

Again come back, with all thy noisy host,

And with loud cries this constant truth resound :

That nothing through all nature's realm is lost — All things revolve in one eternal round.

This restless earth, each planetary sphere,

The breath of life, winds, tides, the cloud, the rill,

Go and. eturn like thee, all taught to steer Through fixed cycles by the Eternal will.

��ODE TO TRUTH.

First Treatment.

truth persuasive.

O thou that, in thyself content, Wilt not be moved by argument — That growest more fair with growing old. Deemed by the fool severe and cold. But by the wise more precious far Than all things that most beauteous are ! Dwelling unveiled in heavenly light, Thou wilt be served but by the upright, And none thy lustre can endure Save the unspotted soul and pure. How blest are they that join thy train. Far from the proud, the false, the vain — Within thy sacred haunts serene that dwell, And at the crystal waters of thy well

�� �