Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/352

314 To man, propose this test—

Thy body at its best,

How far can that project thy soul on its lone way?

Yet gifts should prove their use:

I own the Past profuse

Of power each side, perfection every turn:

Eyes, ears took in their dole,

Brain treasured up the whole:

Should not the heart beat once "How good to live and learn?"

Not once beat "Praise be Thine!

I see the whole design,

I, who saw power, see now love perfect too:

Perfect I call Thy plan:

Thanks that I was a man!

Maker, remake, complete,—I trust what Thou shalt do!"

For pleasant is this flesh,

Our soul, in its rose-mesh

Pull'd ever to the earth, still yearns for rest;

Would we some prize might hold

To match those manifold

Possessions of the brute,—gain most, as we did best!

Let us not always say,

"Spite of this flesh to-day

I strove, made head, gain'd ground upon the whole!"