Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/415

 ODE TO TRUTH 405

O Truth, what pleasures so divine can be,

As feels the soul that tranquil dwells with thee,

At peace with man, and with itself in harmony 1

��ODE TO TRUTH.

Second Treatmeni'.

truth contemplative.

Truth, from Error's barren waste A pilgrim comes thy fount to taste —

One on whose youth thy countenance smiled, Though, from thy paths too long beguiled, The way to thee is half forgot, Till haply thou wilt know him not, But veil thee in so black a cloud As shall thy sacred haunts enshroud. And hide the thousand ways that lead, Each by a slight and brittle thread. To that fair fane where, robed in white, And crowned with rays of heavenly light. Thou, from the vulgar gaze concealed. Art only to pure eyes revealed.

O, child of Heaven ! in days of old,

1 deemed thee stern, thy fountain cold ; For Error from thy paths away Entices even thy friends to stray. Charmed by Delusion's magic light. Gleaming from fens, yet briefly bright, Which tempts to death and ends in night. Truant awhile, to thy domain

The wanderer hath returned again. For time can ne'er thy charms efface

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