Of Hidden Uses. From Proverbial Philosophy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDCECFGHIJKCLMNOPC QRS TQUCCQVQJW QXQNQYZA2QB2 C2TQNQD2QE2 QQTF2QQC2JQG2S QQH2I2J2K2QL2TTQQC2Q QM2N2 N2QTQO2P2Q2R2N2S2QJ HT2QQXU2QI2QQN2TV2QW 2 N2The sea wort floating on the waves or rolled up high along the shore | A |
Ye counted useless and vile heaping on it names of contempt | B |
Yet hath it gloriously triumphed and man been humbled in his ignorance | C |
For health is in the fresliness of its savour and it cumbereth the beach with wealth | D |
Comforting the tossings of pain with its violet tinctured essence | C |
And by its humbler ashes enriching many proud | E |
Be this then a lesson to thy soul that thou reckon nothing wortliless | C |
Because thou heedest not its use nor knowest the virtues thereof | F |
And herein as thou walkest by the sea shall weeds be a type and an earnest | G |
Of the stored and uncounted riches lying hid in all creatures of God | H |
There be flowers making glad the desert and roots fattening the soil | I |
And jewels in the secret deep scattered amongst groves of coral | J |
And comforts to crown all wishes and aids unto every need | K |
Influences yet unthought and virtues and many inventions | C |
And uses above and around which man hath not yet regarded | L |
Not long to charm away disease hath the crocus yielded up its bulb | M |
Nor the willow lent its bark nor the nightshade its vanquished poison | N |
Not long hath the twisted leaf the fragrant gift of China | O |
Nor that nutritious root the boon of far Peru | P |
Nor the many coloured dahlia nor the gorgeous flaunting cactus | C |
Nor the multitude of fruits and flowers ministered to Life and luxury | Q |
Even so there be virtues yet unknown in the wasted foliage of the elm | R |
In the sun dried harebell of the downs and the hyacinth drinking in the meadow | S |
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In the sycamore's winged fruit and the facet cut cones of the cedar | T |
And the pansy and bright geranium live not alone for beauty | Q |
Nor the waxen flower of the arbute though it dieth in a day | U |
Nor the sculptured crest of the fir unseen but by the stars | C |
And the meanest weed of the garden serveth unto many uses | C |
The salt tamarisk and juicy flag the freckled orchis and the daisy | Q |
The world may laugh at famine when forest trees yield bread | V |
When acorns give out fragrant drink and the sap of the linden is as fatness | Q |
For every green herb from the lotus to the darnel | J |
Is rich with delicate aids to help incurious man | W |
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Still Mind is up and stirring and pryeth in the corners of contrivance | Q |
Often from the dark recesses picking out bright seeds of truth | X |
Knowledge hath clipped the lightning's wings and mewed it up for a purpose | Q |
Training to some domestic task the fieiy bird of heaven | N |
Tamed is the spirit of the storm to slave in all peaceful arts | Q |
To walk with husbandry and science to stand in the vanguard against death | Y |
And the chemist balanceth his elements with more than magic skill | Z |
Commanding stones that they be bread and draining sweetness out of wormwood | A2 |
Yet man heedless of a God countethup vain reckonings | Q |
Fearing to be jostled and starved out by the too prolific increase of his kind | B2 |
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And asketh in unbelieving dread for how few years to come | C2 |
Will the black cellars of the world yield unto him fuel for his winter | T |
Might not the wide waste sea be pent within narrower bounds | Q |
Might not the arm of diligence make the tangled wilderness a garden | N |
And for aught thou canst tell there may be a thousand methods | Q |
Of comforting thy limbs in warmth though thou kindle not a spark | D2 |
Fear not son of man for thyself nor thy seed with a multitude is plenty | Q |
God's blessing giveth increase and with it larger than enough | E2 |
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Search out the wisdom of nature there is depth in all her doings | Q |
She seemeth prodigal of power yet her rules are the maxims of frugality | Q |
The plant refresheth the air and the earth filtereth the water | T |
And dews are sucked into the cloud dropping fatness on the world | F2 |
She hath on a miglity scale a general use for all things | Q |
Yet hath she specially for each its microscopic purpose | Q |
There is use in the prisoned air that swelleth the pods of the laburnum | C2 |
Design in the venomed thorns that sentinel the leaves of the nettle | J |
A final cause for the aromatic gum that congealeth the moss around a rose | Q |
A reason for each blade of grass that reareth its small spire | G2 |
How knoweth discontented man what a train of ills might follow | S |
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If the lowest menial of nature knew not her secret office | Q |
If the thistle never sprang up to mock the loose husbandry of indolence | Q |
Or the pestilence never swept away an unknown curse from among men | H2 |
Would ye crush the buzzing myriads that float on the breath of evening | I2 |
Would ye trample the creatures of God that people the rotting fruit | J2 |
Would ye suffer no mildew forest to stain the unhealthy wall | K2 |
Nor a noisome savour to exhale from the pool that breedeth disease | Q |
Pain is useful unto man for it teacheth him to guard his life | L2 |
And the fetid vapours of the fen warn him to fly from danger | T |
And the meditative mind looking on winneth good food for its hunger | T |
Seeing the wholesome root bring forth a poisonous berry | Q |
For otherwhile falleth it out that truth driven to extremities | Q |
Yieldeth bitter folly as the spoilt fruit of wisdom | C2 |
O blinded is thine eye if it see not just aptitude in all things | Q |
O frozen is thy heart if it glow not with gratitude for all things | Q |
In the perfect circle of creation not an atom could be spared | M2 |
From earth's magnetic zone to the bindweed round a hawthorn | N2 |
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The sage and the beetle at his feet hath each a ministration to perfonn | N2 |
The briar and the palm have the wages of life rendering secret service | Q |
Neither is it thus alone with the definite existences of matter | T |
But motion and sound circumstance and quality yea all things have their office | Q |
The zephyr playing with an aspen leaf the earthquake that rendeth a continent | O2 |
The moon beam silvering a ruined arch the desert wave dashing up a pyramid | P2 |
The thunder of jarring icebergs the stops of a shepherd's pipe | Q2 |
The howl of the tiger in the glen and the wood dove calling to her mate | R2 |
The vulture's cruel rage the grace of the stately swan | N2 |
The fierceness looking from the lynx's eye and the dull stupor of the sloth | S2 |
To these and to all is there added each its use though man considereth it lightly | Q |
For Power hath ordained nothing which Economy saw not needful | J |
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All things being are in concord with the ubiqmty of God | H |
Neither is there one thing overmuch nor freed from honourable servitude | T2 |
Were there not a need be of wisdom nothing would be as it is | Q |
For essence without necessity argueth a moral weakness | Q |
We look through a glass darkly we catch but glimpses of truth | X |
But doubtless the sailing of a cloud hath Providence to its pilot | U2 |
Doubtless the root of an oak is gnarled for a special purpose | Q |
The foreknown station of a rush is as fixed as the station of a king | I2 |
And chaff from the hand of the winnower steered as the stars in their courses | Q |
Man liveth only in himself but the Lord liveth in all things | Q |
And his pervading unity quickeneth the whole creation | N2 |
Man doeth one thing at once nor can he think two thoughts together | T |
But God compasseth all things mantling the globe like air | V2 |
And we render homage to his wisdom seeing use in all his creatures | Q |
For perchance the universe would die were not all things as they are | W2 |
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Transcribed from Proverbial Philosophy by Mick Puttock August Spelling punctuation and grammer left mostly unchanged from the th edition | N2 |
Martin Farquhar Tupper
(2)
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