Of Trifles. From Proverbial Philosophy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJIGKILMILNL AOAAPA QRDSHIGGGIIPBTUIGVAW IIXYIKHZINHLNG A| Yet once more saith the fool yet once and is it not a little one | A |
| Spare me this folly yet an hour for what is one among so many | B |
| And lie blindeth his conscience with lies and stupifieth his heart with doubts | C |
| Whom shall I harm in this matter and a little ill breedeth much good | D |
| My thoughts are they not mine own and they leave no mark behind them | E |
| And if God so pardoneth crime how should these petty sins affect him | F |
| So he transgresseth yet again and falleth by little and little | G |
| Till the ground crumble beneath him and he sinketh in the gulf despairing | H |
| For there is nothing in the earth so small that it may not produce great things | I |
| And no swerving from a right line that may not lead eternally astray | J |
| A landmark tree was once a seed and the dust in the balance maketh a differeuce | I |
| And the cairn is heaped high by each one flinging a pebble | G |
| The dangerous bar in the harbour's mouth is only grains of sand | K |
| And the shoal that hath wrecked a navy is the work of a colony of worms | I |
| Yea and a despicable gnat may madden the mighty elephant | L |
| And the living rock is worn by the diligent flow of the brook | M |
| Little art thou O man and in trifles thou contendest with thine equals | I |
| For atoms must crowd upon atoms ere crime groweth to be a giant | L |
| What is thy servant a dog not yet wilt thou grasp the dagger | N |
| Not yet wilt thou laugh with the scoffers not yet betray the innocent | L |
| But if thou nourish in thy heart the reveries of injury or passion | A |
| And travel in mental heat the mazy labyrinths of guilt | O |
| And then conceive it possihle and then reflect on it as done | A |
| And use by little and little thyself to regard thyself a villain | A |
| Not long will crime be absent from the voice that doth invoke him to thy heart | P |
| And bitterly wilt thou grieve that the buds have ripened into poison | A |
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| A spark is a molecule of matter yet may it kindle the world | Q |
| Vast is the mighty ocean but drops have made it vast | R |
| Despise not thou a small thing either for evil or for good | D |
| For a look may work thy ruin or a word create thy wealth | S |
| The walking this way or that the casual stopping or hastening | H |
| Hath saved life and destroyed it hath cast down and built up fortunes | I |
| Commit thy trifles unto God for to him is nothing trivial | G |
| And it is but the littleness of man that seeth no greatness in a trifle | G |
| All things are infinite in parts and the moral is as the material | G |
| Neither is anything vast but it is compacted of atoms | I |
| Thou art wise and shalt find comfort if thou study thy pleasure in trifles | I |
| For slender joys often repeated fall as sunshine on the heart | P |
| Thou art wise if thou beat off petty troubles nor suffer their stinging to fret thee | B |
| Thrust not thine hand among the thorns but with a leathern glove | T |
| Regard nothing lightly which the wisdom of Providence hath ordered | U |
| And therefore consider all things that happen unto thee or unto others | I |
| The warrior that stood against a host may be pierced unto death by a needle | G |
| And the saint that feareth not the fire may perish the victim of a thought | V |
| A mote in the gunner's eye is as bad as a spike in the gun | A |
| And the cable of a furlong is lost through an ill wrought inch | W |
| The streams of small pleasures fill the lake of happiness | I |
| And the deepest wretchedness of life is continuance of petty pains | I |
| A fool observeth nothing and seemeth wise unto himself | X |
| A wise man heedeth all things and in his own eyes is a fool | Y |
| He that wondereth at nothing hath no capabilities of bliss | I |
| But he that scrutinizeth trifles hath a store of pleasure to his hand | K |
| If pestilence stalk through the land ye say This is God's doing | H |
| Is it not also his doing when an aphis creepeth on a rose bud | Z |
| If an avalanche roll from its Alp ye tremble at the will of Providence | I |
| Is not that will concerned when the sear leaves fall from the poplar | N |
| A thing is great or little only to a mortal's thinking | H |
| But abstracted from the body all things are alike important | L |
| The Ancient of Days noteth in his book the idle converse of a creature | N |
| And happy and wise is the man to whose thought existeth not a trifle | G |
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| Transcribed from the th edition Proverbial Philosophy by Martin Farquhar Tupper by Mick Puttock August Spelling punctuation and grammer left mostly unchanged from the th edition | A |
Martin Farquhar Tupper
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About Of Trifles. From Proverbial Philosophy
Of Trifles. From Proverbial Philosophy is a poem by Martin Farquhar Tupper. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.