Hope Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AB CCDEFFGGHHIIJKBBLLMM NNOOCCPPBBQRBBSSTTBB UUUUUUVVWWUUUUUUFFXX YYZZA2A2B2B2C2C2BBBB D2D2OOE2E2UUF2G2UUZZ H2H2I2I2E2E2BBJ2J2K2 K2E2E2L2L2M2M2N2N2D2 D2O2O2P2P2UUQ2Q2R2R2 S2S2A2A2BBE2E2T2T2C2 C2XXS2S2I2I2FFBBU2U2 UUEEB2V2BBW2W2UUIIX2 X2Y2Y2UUZ2FQQA3A3B3B 3C3C3IIBBUUD3D3E3E3F 3F3UUG3G3ZZUUUUH3H3W 2W2KKUUUUI3I3J3J3I2I 2P2P2R2R2A2A2K3K3UUL 3L3M3M3L3L3N3O3P3P3F FZZUUUUUFFL3L3UUQ2Q2 BBUUQ3Q3UUE2E2L3L3V2 B2BBL3L3L3L3Z2Z2L3L3 FFE2E2L3L3R3S3UUUUW2 W2UUL3L3L3L3L3L3L3L3 L3L3UUUUUUBBOOL3L3B2 B2L3L3UUT3T3L3L3U3U3 UUUUN3O3L3L3L3L3UUL3 L3FFL3L3L3L3UUL3L3L3 UUL3L3FFL3L3UUUUV3V3 L3L3UUW3W3L3L3E2E2L3 L3E2E2L3L3UUE2E2BBL3 L3A3A3S3S3W3W3BBL3L3 E2E2Z2YFFL3L3L3L3E2E 2E2E2X3X3L3L3Y3Y3UUE 2E2E2E2FFL3L3L3L3E2E 2W2W2OOQ2Q2ZZL3L3Z3Z 3L3L3L3L3L3L3S3R3L3L 3L3L3E2E2E2E2A4A4Z3Z 3E2E2E2E2L3L3L3L3B4B 4BBL3L3E2E2BBC4C4E2E 2UUL3L3YZ2E2E2E2E2E2 E2L3L3SSYYBBFFE2E2L3 L3BBD4D4FFL3L3E2E2OO OE4E4UUL3L3L3L3E2E2L 3L3E2E2L3L3L3L3L3L3E 2E2E2E2F4F4BBE2E2G4G 4H4H4L3L3L3L3UUE2E2I 4I4L3L3L3L3E2E2FYU3U 3L3L3L3L3ZZE2E2L3L3T TE2E2L3L3J4J4T3T3E2E 2O3N3BBE2E2BBBBS3S3L 3L3E2E2L3L3E2E2Z3Z3L 3L3BBFFE2E2E2E2E2L3L 3L3L3E2E2E2E2UUBBE2E 2M3OE2E2E2E2L3L3E2E2 E2E2L3L3E2E2BBMML3L3 L3L3BBBBBFZ2L3L3U3U3 E2E2FFL3L3L3L3BBL3L3 E2E2FFL3L3L3L3Z2Z2E2 E2UUBBL3L3E2E2E2E2BB L3L3E2E2L3L3Z2YE2E2E 2E2K4K4E2E2L3L3L3L3B 3B3E2E2P3P3BBK4K4L3L 3FFL3L3S3S3L3L3L3L3L 4L4L3L3G4G4L3L3E2E2B B

Doceas iter et sacra ostia pandas	A
Virg Aen	B
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Ask what is human life the sage replies	C
With disappointment lowering in his eyes	C
A painful passage o'er a restless flood	D
A vain pursuit of fugitive false good	E
A scene of fancied bliss and heartfelt care	F
Closing at last in darkness and despair	F
The poor inured to drudgery and distress	G
Act without aim think little and feel less	G
And nowhere but in feign'd Arcadian scenes	H
Taste happiness or know what pleasure means	H
Riches are pass'd away from hand to hand	I
As fortune vice or folly may command	I
As in a dance the pair that take the lead	J
Turn downward and the lowest pair succeed	K
So shifting and so various is the plan	B
By which Heaven rules the mix'd affairs of man	B
Vicissitude wheels round the motley crowd	L
The rich grow poor the poor become purse proud	L
Business is labour and man's weakness such	M
Pleasure is labour too and tires us much	M
The very sense of it foregoes its use	N
By repetition pall'd by age obtuse	N
Youth lost in dissipation we deplore	O
Through life's sad remnant what no sighs restore	O
Our years a fruitless race without a prize	C
Too many yet too few to make us wise	C
Dangling his cane about and taking snuff	P
Lothario cries What philosophic stuff	P
O querulous and weak whose useless brain	B
Once thought of nothing and now thinks in vain	B
Whose eye reverted weeps o'er all the past	Q
Whose prospect shews thee a disheartening waste	R
Would age in thee resign his wintry reign	B
And youth invigorate that frame again	B
Renew'd desire would grace with other speech	S
Joys always prized when placed within our reach	S
For lift thy palsied head shake off the gloom	T
That overhangs the borders of thy tomb	T
See nature gay as when she first began	B
With smiles alluring her admirer man	B
She spreads the morning over eastern hills	U
Earth glitters with the drops the night distils	U
The sun obedient at her call appears	U
To fling his glories o'er the robe she wears	U
Banks clothed with flowers groves fill'd with sprightly sounds	U
The yellow tilth green meads rocks rising grounds	U
Streams edged with osiers fattening every field	V
Where'er they flow now seen and now conceal'd	V
From the blue rim where skies and mountains meet	W
Down to the very turf beneath thy feet	W
Ten thousand charms that only fools despise	U
Or pride can look at with indifferent eyes	U
All speak one language all with one sweet voice	U
Cry to her universal realm Rejoice	U
Man feels the spur of passions and desires	U
And she gives largely more than he requires	U
Not that his hours devoted all to care	F
Hollow eyed abstinence and lean despair	F
The wretch may pine while to his smell taste sight	X
She holds a paradise of rich delight	X
But gently to rebuke his awkward fear	Y
To prove that what she gives she gives sincere	Y
To banish hesitation and proclaim	Z
His happiness her dear her only aim	Z
'Tis grave philosophy's absurdest dream	A2
That Heaven's intentions are not what they seem	A2
That only shadows are dispensed below	B2
And earth has no reality but woe	B2
Thus things terrestrial wear a different hue	C2
As youth or age persuades and neither true	C2
So Flora's wreath through colour'd crystal seen	B
The rose or lily appears blue or green	B
But still the imputed tints are those alone	B
The medium represents and not their own	B
To rise at noon sit slipshod and undress'd	D2
To read the news or fiddle as seems best	D2
Till half the world comes rattling at his door	O
To fill the dull vacuity till four	O
And just when evening turns the blue vault gray	E2
To spend two hours in dressing for the day	E2
To make the sun a bauble without use	U
Save for the fruits his heavenly beams produce	U
Quite to forget or deem it worth no thought	F2
Who bids him shine or if he shine or not	G2
Through mere necessity to close his eyes	U
Just when the larks and when the shepherds rise	U
Is such a life so tediously the same	Z
So void of all utility or aim	Z
That poor Jonquil with almost every breath	H2
Sighs for his exit vulgarly called death	H2
For he with all his follies has a mind	I2
Not yet so blank or fashionably blind	I2
But now and then perhaps a feeble ray	E2
Of distant wisdom shoots across his way	E2
By which he reads that life without a plan	B
As useless as the moment it began	B
Serves merely as a soil for discontent	J2
To thrive in an encumbrance ere half spent	J2
Oh weariness beyond what asses feel	K2
That tread the circuit of the cistern wheel	K2
A dull rotation never at a stay	E2
Yesterday's face twin image of to day	E2
While conversation an exhausted stock	L2
Grows drowsy as the clicking of a clock	L2
No need he cries of gravity stuff'd out	M2
With academic dignity devout	M2
To read wise lectures vanity the text	N2
Proclaim the remedy ye learned next	N2
For truth self evident with pomp impress'd	D2
Is vanity surpassing all the rest	D2
That remedy not hid in deeps profound	O2
Yet seldom sought where only to be found	O2
While passion turns aside from its due scope	P2
The inquirer's aim that remedy is Hope	P2
Life is his gift from whom whate'er life needs	U
With every good and perfect gift proceeds	U
Bestow'd on man like all that we partake	Q2
Royally freely for his bounty's sake	Q2
Transient indeed as is the fleeting hour	R2
And yet the seed of an immortal flower	R2
Design'd in honour of his endless love	S2
To fill with fragrance his abode above	S2
No trifle howsoever short it seem	A2
And howsoever shadowy no dream	A2
Its value what no thought can ascertain	B
Nor all an angel's eloquence explain	B
Men deal with life as children with their play	E2
Who first misuse then cast their toys away	E2
Live to no sober purpose and contend	T2
That their Creator had no serious end	T2
When God and man stand opposite in view	C2
Man's disappointment must of course ensue	C2
The just Creator condescends to write	X
In beams of inextinguishable light	X
His names of wisdom goodness power and love	S2
On all that blooms below or shines above	S2
To catch the wandering notice of mankind	I2
And teach the world if not perversely blind	I2
His gracious attributes and prove the share	F
His offspring hold in his paternal care	F
If led from earthly things to things divine	B
His creature thwart not his august design	B
Then praise is heard instead of reasoning pride	U2
And captious cavil and complaint subside	U2
Nature employ'd in her allotted place	U
Is handmaid to the purposes of grace	U
By good vouchsafed makes known superior good	E
And bliss not seen by blessings understood	E
That bliss reveal'd in Scripture with a glow	B2
Bright as the covenant insuring bow	V2
Fires all his feelings with a noble scorn	B
Of sensual evil and thus Hope is born	B
Hope sets the stamp of vanity on all	W2
That men have deem'd substantial since the fall	W2
Yet has the wondrous virtue to educe	U
From emptiness itself a real use	U
And while she takes as at a father's hand	I
What health and sober appetite demand	I
From fading good derives with chemic art	X2
That lasting happiness a thankful heart	X2
Hope with uplifted foot set free from earth	Y2
Pants for the place of her ethereal birth	Y2
On steady wings sails through the immense abyss	U
Plucks amaranthine joys from bowers of bliss	U
And crowns the soul while yet a mourner here	Z2
With wreaths like those triumphant spirits wear	F
Hope as an anchor firm and sure holds fast	Q
The Christian vessel and defies the blast	Q
Hope nothing else can nourish and secure	A3
His new born virtues and preserve him pure	A3
Hope let the wretch once conscious of the joy	B3
Whom now despairing agonies destroy	B3
Speak for he can and none so well as he	C3
What treasures centre what delights in thee	C3
Had he the gems the spices and the land	I
That boasts the treasure all at his command	I
The fragrant grove the inestimable mine	B
Were light when weigh'd against one smile of thine	B
Though clasp'd and cradled in his nurse's arms	U
He shines with all a cherub's artless charms	U
Man is the genuine offspring of revolt	D3
Stubborn and sturdy a wild ass's colt	D3
His passions like the watery stores that sleep	E3
Beneath the smiling surface of the deep	E3
Wait but the lashes of a wintry storm	F3
To frown and roar and shake his feeble form	F3
From infancy through childhood's giddy maze	U
Froward at school and fretful in his plays	U
The puny tyrant burns to subjugate	G3
The free republic of the whip gig state	G3
If one his equal in athletic frame	Z
Or more provoking still of nobler name	Z
Dare step across his arbitrary views	U
An Iliad only not in verse ensues	U
The little Greeks look trembling at the scales	U
Till the best tongue or heaviest hand prevails	U
Now see him launch'd into the world at large	H3
If priest supinely droning o'er his charge	H3
Their fleece his pillow and his weekly drawl	W2
Though short too long the price he pays for all	W2
If lawyer loud whatever cause he plead	K
But proudest of the worst if that succeed	K
Perhaps a grave physician gathering fees	U
Punctually paid for lengthening out disease	U
No Cotton whose humanity sheds rays	U
That make superior skill his second praise	U
If arms engage him he devotes to sport	I3
His date of life so likely to be short	I3
A soldier may be anything if brave	J3
So may a tradesman if not quite a knave	J3
Such stuff the world is made of and mankind	I2
To passion interest pleasure whim resign'd	I2
Insist on as if each were his own pope	P2
Forgiveness and the privilege of hope	P2
But conscience in some awful silent hour	R2
When captivating lusts have lost their power	R2
Perhaps when sickness or some fearful dream	A2
Reminds him of religion hated theme	A2
Starts from the down on which she lately slept	K3
And tells of laws despised at least not kept	K3
Shews with a pointing finger but no noise	U
A pale procession of past sinful joys	U
All witnesses of blessings foully scorn'd	L3
And life abused and not to be suborn'd	L3
Mark these she says these summon'd from afar	M3
Begin their march to meet thee at the bar	M3
There find a Judge inexorably just	L3
And perish there as all presumption must	L3
Peace be to those such peace as earth can give	N3
Who live in pleasure dead e'en while they live	O3
Born capable indeed of heavenly truth	P3
But down to latest age from earliest youth	P3
Their mind a wilderness through want of care	F
The plough of wisdom never entering there	F
Peace if insensibility may claim	Z
A right to the meek honours of her name	Z
To men of pedigree their noble race	U
Emulous always of the nearest place	U
To any throne except the throne of grace	U
Let cottagers and unenlighten'd swains	U
Revere the laws they dream that Heaven ordains	U
Resort on Sundays to the house of prayer	F
And ask and fancy they find blessings there	F
Themselves perhaps when weary they retreat	L3
To enjoy cool nature in a country seat	L3
To exchange the centre of a thousand trades	U
For clumps and lawns and temples and cascades	U
May now and then their velvet cushions take	Q2
And seem to pray for good example sake	Q2
Judging in charity no doubt the town	B
Pious enough and having need of none	B
Kind souls to teach their tenantry to prize	U
What they themselves without remorse despise	U
Nor hope have they nor fear of aught to come	Q3
As well for them had prophecy been dumb	Q3
They could have held the conduct they pursue	U
Had Paul of Tarsus lived and died a Jew	U
And truth proposed to reasoners wise as they	E2
Is a pearl cast completely cast away	E2
They die Death lends them pleased and as in sport	L3
All the grim honours of his ghastly court	L3
Far other paintings grace the chamber now	V2
Where late we saw the mimic landscape glow	B2
The busy heralds hang the sable scene	B
With mournful 'scutcheons and dim lamps between	B
Proclaim their titles to the crowd around	L3
But they that wore them move not at the sound	L3
The coronet placed idly at their head	L3
Adds nothing now to the degraded dead	L3
And e'en the star that glitters on the bier	Z2
Can only say Nobility lies here	Z2
Peace to all such 'twere pity to offend	L3
By useless censure whom we cannot mend	L3
Life without hope can close but in despair	F
'Twas there we found them and must leave them there	F
As when two pilgrims in a forest stray	E2
Both may be lost yet each in his own way	E2
So fares it with the multitudes beguiled	L3
In vain opinion's waste and dangerous wild	L3
Ten thousand rove the brakes and thorns among	R3
Some eastward and some westward and all wrong	S3
But here alas the fatal difference lies	U
Each man's belief is right in his own eyes	U
And he that blames what they have blindly chose	U
Incurs resentment for the love he shews	U
Say botanist within whose province fall	W2
The cedar and the hyssop on the wall	W2
Of all that deck the lanes the fields the bowers	U
What parts the kindred tribes of weeds and flowers	U
Sweet scent or lovely form or both combined	L3
Distinguish every cultivated kind	L3
The want of both denotes a meaner breed	L3
And Chloe from her garland picks the weed	L3
Thus hopes of every sort whatever sect	L3
Esteem them sow them rear them and protect	L3
If wild in nature and not duly found	L3
Gethsemane in thy dear hallow'd ground	L3
That cannot bear the blaze of Scripture light	L3
Nor cheer the spirit nor refresh the sight	L3
Nor animate the soul to Christian deeds	U
Oh cast them from thee are weeds arrant weeds	U
Ethelred's house the centre of six ways	U
Diverging each from each like equal rays	U
Himself as bountiful as April rains	U
Lord paramount of the surrounding plains	U
Would give relief of bed and board to none	B
But guests that sought it in the appointed One	B
And they might enter at his open door	O
E'en till his spacious hall would hold no more	O
He sent a servant forth by every road	L3
To sound his horn and publish it abroad	L3
That all might mark knight menial high and low	B2
An ordinance it concern'd them much to know	B2
If after all some headstrong hardy lout	L3
Would disobey though sure to be shut out	L3
Could he with reason murmur at his case	U
Himself sole author of his own disgrace	U
No the decree was just and without flaw	T3
And he that made had right to make the law	T3
His sovereign power and pleasure unrestrain'd	L3
The wrong was his who wrongfully complain'd	L3
Yet half mankind maintain a churlish strife	U3
With him the Donor of eternal life	U3
Because the deed by which his love confirms	U
The largess he bestows prescribes the terms	U
Compliance with his will your lot insures	U
Accept it only and the boon is yours	U
And sure it is as kind to smile and give	N3
As with a frown to say Do this and live	O3
Love is not pedlar's trumpery bought and sold	L3
He will give freely or he will withhold	L3
His soul abhors a mercenary thought	L3
And him as deeply who abhors it not	L3
He stipulates indeed but merely this	U
That man will freely take an unbought bliss	U
Will trust him for a faithful generous part	L3
Nor set a price upon a willing heart	L3
Of all the ways that seem to promise fair	F
To place you where his saints his presence share	F
This only can for this plain cause express'd	L3
In terms as plain himself has shut the rest	L3
But oh the strife the bickering and debate	L3
The tidings of unpurchased heaven create	L3
The flirted fan the bridle and the toss	U
All speakers yet all language at a loss	U
From stucco'd walls smart arguments rebound	L3
And beaus adepts in everything profound	L3
Die of disdain or whistle off the sound	L3
Such is the clamour of rooks daws and kites	U
The explosion of the levell'd tube excites	U
Where mouldering abbey walls o'erhang the glade	L3
And oaks coeval spread a mournful shade	L3
The screaming nations hovering in mid air	F
Loudly resent the stranger's freedom there	F
And seem to warn him never to repeat	L3
His bold intrusion on their dark retreat	L3
Adieu Vinosa cries ere yet he sips	U
The purple bumper trembling at his lips	U
Adieu to all morality if grace	U
Make works a vain ingredient in the case	U
The Christian hope is Waiter draw the cork	V3
If I mistake not Blockhead with a fork	V3
Without good works whatever some may boast	L3
Mere folly and delusion Sir your toast	L3
My firm persuasion is at least sometimes	U
That Heaven will weigh man's virtues and his crimes	U
With nice attention in a righteous scale	W3
And save or damn as these or those prevail	W3
I plant my foot upon this ground of trust	L3
And silence every fear with God is just	L3
But if perchance on some dull drizzling day	E2
A thought intrude that says or seems to say	E2
If thus the important cause is to be tried	L3
Suppose the beam should dip on the wrong side	L3
I soon recover from these needless frights	E2
And God is merciful sets all to rights	E2
Thus between justice as my prime support	L3
And mercy fled to as the last resort	L3
I glide and steal along with heaven in view	U
And pardon me the bottle stands with you	U
I never will believe the Colonel cries	E2
The sanguinary schemes that some devise	E2
Who make the good Creator on their plan	B
A being of less equity than man	B
If appetite or what divines call lust	L3
Which men comply with e'en because they must	L3
Be punish'd with perdition who is pure	A3
Then theirs no doubt as well as mine is sure	A3
If sentence of eternal pain belong	S3
To every sudden slip and transient wrong	S3
Then Heaven enjoins the fallible and frail	W3
A hopeless task and damns them if they fail	W3
My creed whatever some creed makers mean	B
By Athanasian nonsense or Nicene	B
My creed is he is safe that does his best	L3
And death's a doom sufficient for the rest	L3
Right says an ensign and for aught I see	E2
Your faith and mine substantially agree	E2
The best of every man's performance here	Z2
Is to discharge the duties of his sphere	Y
A lawyer's dealings should be just and fair	F
Honesty shines with great advantage there	F
Fasting and prayer sit well upon a priest	L3
A decent caution and reserve at least	L3
A soldier's best is courage in the field	L3
With nothing here that wants to be conceal'd	L3
Manly deportment gallant easy gay	E2
A hand as liberal as the light of day	E2
The soldier thus endow'd who never shrinks	E2
Nor closets up his thoughts whate'er he thinks	E2
Who scorns to do an injury by stealth	X3
Must go to heaven and I must drink his health	X3
Sir Smug he cries for lowest at the board	L3
Just made fifth chaplain of his patron lord	L3
His shoulders witnessing by many a shrug	Y3
How much his feelings suffer'd sat Sir Smug	Y3
Your office is to winnow false from true	U
Come prophet drink and tell us What think you	U
Sighing and smiling as he takes his glass	E2
Which they that woo preferment rarely pass	E2
Fallible man the church bred youth replies	E2
Is still found fallible however wise	E2
And differing judgments serve but to declare	F
That truth lies somewhere if we knew but where	F
Of all it ever was my lot to read	L3
Of critics now alive or long since dead	L3
The book of all the world that charm'd me most	L3
Was well a day the title page was lost	L3
The writer well remarks a heart that knows	E2
To take with gratitude what Heaven bestows	E2
With prudence always ready at our call	W2
To guide our use of it is all in all	W2
Doubtless it is To which of my own store	O
I superadd a few essentials more	O
But these excuse the liberty I take	Q2
I wave just now for conversation's sake	Q2
Spoke like an oracle they all exclaim	Z
And add Right Reverend to Smug's honour'd name	Z
And yet our lot is given us in a land	L3
Where busy arts are never at a stand	L3
Where science points her telescopic eye	Z3
Familiar with the wonders of the sky	Z3
Where bold inquiry diving out of sight	L3
Brings many a precious pearl of truth to light	L3
Where nought eludes the persevering quest	L3
That fashion taste or luxury suggest	L3
But above all in her own light array'd	L3
See Mercy's grand apocalypse display'd	L3
The sacred book no longer suffers wrong	S3
Bound in the fetters of an unknown tongue	R3
But speaks with plainness art could never mend	L3
What simplest minds can soonest comprehend	L3
God gives the word the preachers throng around	L3
Live from his lips and spread the glorious sound	L3
That sound bespeaks salvation on her way	E2
The trumpet of a life restoring day	E2
'Tis heard where England's eastern glory shines	E2
And in the gulfs of her Cornubian mines	E2
And still it spreads See Germany send forth	A4
Her sons to pour it on the farthest north	A4
Fired with a zeal peculiar they defy	Z3
The rage and rigour of a polar sky	Z3
And plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose	E2
On icy plains and in eternal snows	E2
O blest within the inclosure of your rocks	E2
Not herds have ye to boast nor bleating flocks	E2
Nor fertilizing streams your fields divide	L3
That shew reversed the villas on their side	L3
No groves have ye no cheerful sound of bird	L3
Or voice of turtle in your land is heard	L3
Nor grateful eglantine regales the smell	B4
Of those that walk at evening where ye dwell	B4
But Winter arm'd with terrors here unknown	B
Sits absolute on his unshaken throne	B
Piles up his stores amidst the frozen waste	L3
And bids the mountains he has built stand fast	L3
Beckons the legions of his storms away	E2
From happier scenes to make your land a prey	E2
Proclaims the soil a conquest he has won	B
And scorns to share it with the distant sun	B
Yet truth is yours remote unenvied isle	C4
And peace the genuine offspring of her smile	C4
The pride of letter'd ignorance that binds	E2
In chains of error our accomplish'd minds	E2
That decks with all the splendour of the true	U
A false religion is unknown to you	U
Nature indeed vouchsafes for our delight	L3
The sweet vicissitudes of day and night	L3
Soft airs and genial moisture feed and cheer	Y
Field fruit and flower and every creature here	Z2
But brighter beams than his who fires the skies	E2
Have risen at length on your admiring eyes	E2
That shoot into your darkest caves the day	E2
From which our nicer optics turn away	E2
Here see the encouragement grace gives to vice	E2
The dire effect of mercy without price	E2
What were they what some fools are made by art	L3
They were by nature atheists head and heart	L3
The gross idolatry blind heathens teach	S
Was too refined for them beyond their reach	S
Not e'en the glorious sun though men revere	Y
The monarch most that seldom will appear	Y
And though his beams that quicken where they shine	B
May claim some right to be esteem'd divine	B
Not e'en the sun desirable as rare	F
Could bend one knee engage one votary there	F
They were what base credulity believes	E2
True Christians are dissemblers drunkards thieves	E2
The full gorged savage at his nauseous feast	L3
Spent half the darkness and snored out the rest	L3
Was one whom justice on an equal plan	B
Denouncing death upon the sins of man	B
Might almost have indulged with an escape	D4
Chargeable only with a human shape	D4
What are they now Morality may spare	F
Her grave concern her kind suspicions there	F
The wretch who once sang wildly danced and laugh'd	L3
And suck'd in dizzy madness with his draught	L3
Has wept a silent flood reversed his ways	E2
Is sober meek benevolent and prays	E2
Feeds sparingly communicates his store	O
Abhors the craft he boasted of before	O
And he that stole has learn'd to steal no more	O
Well spake the prophet Let the desert sing	E4
Where sprang the thorn the spiry fir shall spring	E4
And where unsightly and rank thistles grew	U
Shall grow the myrtle and luxuriant yew	U
Go now and with important tone demand	L3
On what foundation virtue is to stand	L3
If self exalting claims be turn'd adrift	L3
And grace be grace indeed and life a gift	L3
The poor reclaim'd inhabitant his eyes	E2
Glistening at once with pity and surprise	E2
Amazed that shadows should obscure the sight	L3
Of one whose birth was in a land of light	L3
Shall answer Hope sweet Hope has set me free	E2
And made all pleasures else mere dross to me	E2
These amidst scenes as waste as if denied	L3
The common care that waits on all beside	L3
Wild as if nature there void of all good	L3
Play'd only gambols in a frantic mood	L3
Yet charge not heavenly skill with having plann'd	L3
A plaything world unworthy of his hand	L3
Can see his love though secret evil lurks	E2
In all we touch stamp'd plainly on his works	E2
Deem life a blessing with its numerous woes	E2
Nor spurn away a gift a God bestows	E2
Hard task indeed o'er arctic seas to roam	F4
Is hope exotic grows it not at home	F4
Yes but an object bright as orient morn	B
May press the eye too closely to be borne	B
A distant virtue we can all confess	E2
It hurts our pride and moves our envy less	E2
Leuconomus beneath well sounding Greek	G4
I slur a name a poet must not speak	G4
Stood pilloried on infamy's high stage	H4
And bore the pelting scorn of half an age	H4
The very butt of slander and the blot	L3
For every dart that malice ever shot	L3
The man that mention'd him at once dismiss'd	L3
All mercy from his lips and sneer'd and hiss'd	L3
His crimes were such as Sodom never knew	U
And perjury stood up to swear all true	U
His aim was mischief and his zeal pretence	E2
His speech rebellion against common sense	E2
A knave when tried on honesty's plain rule	I4
And when by that of reason a mere fool	I4
The world's best comfort was his doom was pass'd	L3
Die when he might he must be damn'd at last	L3
Now Truth perform thine office waft aside	L3
The curtain drawn by prejudice and pride	L3
Reveal the man is dead to wondering eyes	E2
This more than monster in his proper guise	E2
He loved the world that hated him the tear	F
That dropp'd upon his Bible was sincere	Y
Assail'd by scandal and the tongue of strife	U3
His only answer was a blameless life	U3
And he that forged and he that threw the dart	L3
Had each a brother's interest in his heart	L3
Paul's love of Christ and steadiness unbribed	L3
Were copied close in him and well transcribed	L3
He followed Paul his zeal a kindred flame	Z
His apostolic charity the same	Z
Like him cross'd cheerfully tempestuous seas	E2
Forsaking country kindred friends and ease	E2
Like him he labour'd and like him content	L3
To bear it suffer'd shame where'er he went	L3
Blush calumny and write upon his tomb	T
If honest eulogy can spare thee room	T
Thy deep repentance of thy thousand lies	E2
Which aim'd at him have pierced the offended skies	E2
And say Blot out my sin confess'd deplored	L3
Against thine image in thy saint O Lord	L3
No blinder bigot I maintain it still	J4
Than he who must have pleasure come what will	J4
He laughs whatever weapon Truth may draw	T3
And deems her sharp artillery mere straw	T3
Scripture indeed is plain but God and he	E2
On Scripture ground are sure to disagree	E2
Some wiser rule must each him how to live	O3
Than this his Maker has seen fit to give	N3
Supple and flexible as Indian cane	B
To take the bend his appetites ordain	B
Contrived to suit frail nature's crazy case	E2
And reconcile his lusts with saving grace	E2
By this with nice precision of design	B
He draws upon life's map a zig zag line	B
That shews how far 'tis safe to follow sin	B
And where his danger and God's wrath begin	B
By this he forms as pleased he sports along	S3
His well poised estimate of right and wrong	S3
And finds the modish manners of the day	L3
Though loose as harmless as an infant's play	L3
Build by whatever plan caprice decrees	E2
With what materials on what ground you please	E2
Your hope shall stand unblamed perhaps admired	L3
If not that hope the Scripture has required	L3
The strange conceits vain projects and wild dreams	E2
With which hypocrisy for ever teems	E2
Though other follies strike the public eye	Z3
And raise a laugh pass unmolested by	Z3
But if unblameable in word and thought	L3
A man arise a man whom God has taught	L3
With all Elijah's dignity of tone	B
And all the love of the beloved John	B
To storm the citadels they build in air	F
And smite the untemper'd wall 'tis death to spare	F
To sweep away all refuges of lies	E2
And place instead of quirks themselves devise	E2
Lama sabachthani before their eyes	E2
To prove that without Christ all gain is loss	E2
All hope despair that stands not on his cross	E2
Except the few his God may have impress'd	L3
A tenfold frenzy seizes all the rest	L3
Throughout mankind the Christian kind at least	L3
There dwells a consciousness in every breast	L3
That folly ends where genuine hope begins	E2
And he that finds his heaven must lose his sins	E2
Nature opposes with her utmost force	E2
This riving stroke this ultimate divorce	E2
And while Religion seems to be her view	U
Hates with a deep sincerity the true	U
For this of all that ever influenced man	B
Since Abel worshipp'd or the world began	B
This only spares no lust admits no plea	E2
But makes him if at all completely free	E2
Sounds forth the signal as she mounts her car	M3
Of an eternal universal war	O
Rejects all treaty penetrates all wiles	E2
Scorns with the same indifference frowns and smiles	E2
Drives through the realms of sin where riot reels	E2
And grinds his crown beneath her burning wheels	E2
Hence all that is in man pride passion art	L3
Powers of the mind and feelings of the heart	L3
Insensible of Truth's almighty charms	E2
Starts at her first approach and sounds to arms	E2
While Bigotry with well dissembled fears	E2
His eyes shut fast his fingers in his ears	E2
Mighty to parry and push by God's Word	L3
With senseless noise his argument the sword	L3
Pretends a zeal for godliness and grace	E2
And spits abhorrence in the Christian's face	E2
Parent of Hope immortal Truth make known	B
Thy deathless wreaths and triumphs all thine own	B
The silent progress of thy power is such	M
Thy means so feeble and despised so much	M
That few believe the wonders thou hast wrought	L3
And none can teach them but whom thou hast taught	L3
Oh see me sworn to serve thee and command	L3
A painter's skill into a poet's hand	L3
That while I trembling trace a work divine	B
Fancy may stand aloof from the design	B
And light and shade and every stroke be thine	B
If ever thou hast felt another's pain	B
If ever when he sigh'd hast sigh'd again	B
If ever on thy eyelid stood the tear	F
That pity had engender'd drop one here	Z2
This man was happy had the world's good word	L3
And with it every joy it can afford	L3
Friendship and love seem'd tenderly at strife	U3
Which most should sweeten his untroubled life	U3
Politely learn'd and of a gentle race	E2
Good breeding and good sense gave all a grace	E2
And whether at the toilet of the fair	F
He laugh'd and trifled made him welcome there	F
Or if in masculine debate he shared	L3
Ensured him mute attention and regard	L3
Alas how changed Expressive of his mind	L3
His eyes are sunk arms folded head reclined	L3
Those awful syllables hell death and sin	B
Though whisper'd plainly tell what works within	B
That conscience there performs her proper part	L3
And writes a doomsday sentence on his heart	L3
Forsaking and forsaken of all friends	E2
He now perceives where earthly pleasure ends	E2
Hard task for one who lately knew no care	F
And harder still as learnt beneath despair	F
His hours no longer pass unmark'd away	L3
A dark importance saddens every day	L3
He hears the notice of the clock perplex'd	L3
And cries Perhaps eternity strikes next	L3
Sweet music is no longer music here	Z2
And laughter sounds like madness in his ear	Z2
His grief the world of all her power disarms	E2
Wine has no taste and beauty has no charms	E2
God's holy Word once trivial in his view	U
Now by the voice of his experience true	U
Seems as it is the fountain whence alone	B
Must spring that hope he pants to make his own	B
Now let the bright reverse be known abroad	L3
Say man's a worm and power belongs to God	L3
As when a felon whom his country's laws	E2
Have justly doom'd for some atrocious cause	E2
Expects in darkness and heart chilling fears	E2
The shameful close of all his misspent years	E2
If chance on heavy pinions slowly borne	B
A tempest usher in the dreaded morn	B
Upon his dungeon walls the lightning play	L3
The thunder seems to summon him away	L3
The warder at the door his key applies	E2
Shoots back the bolt and all his courage dies	E2
If then just then all thoughts of mercy lost	L3
When Hope long lingering at last yields the ghost	L3
The sound of pardon pierce his startled ear	Z2
He drops at once his fetters and his fear	Y
A transport glows in all he looks and speaks	E2
And the first thankful tears bedew his cheeks	E2
Joy far superior joy that much outweighs	E2
The comfort of a few poor added days	E2
Invades possesses and o'erwhelms the soul	K4
Of him whom Hope has with a touch made whole	K4
'Tis heaven all heaven descending on the wings	E2
Of the glad legions of the King of kings	E2
'Tis more 'tis God diffused through every part	L3
'Tis God himself triumphant in his heart	L3
O welcome now the sun's once hated light	L3
His noonday beams were never half so bright	L3
Not kindred minds alone are call'd to employ	B3
Their hours their days in listening to his joy	B3
Unconscious nature all that he surveys	E2
Rocks groves and streams must join him in his praise	E2
These are thy glorious works eternal Truth	P3
The scoff of wither'd age and beardless youth	P3
These move the censure and the illiberal grin	B
Of fools that hate thee and delight in sin	B
But these shall last when night has quench'd the pole	K4
And heav'n is all departed as a scroll	K4
And when as justice has long since decreed	L3
This earth shall blaze and a new world succeed	L3
Then these thy glorious works and they who share	F
That hope which can alone exclude despair	F
Shall live exempt from weakness and decay	L3
The brightest wonders of an endless day	L3
Happy the bard if that fair name belong	S3
To him that blends no fable with his song	S3
Whose lines uniting by an honest art	L3
The faithful monitor's and poet's part	L3
Seek to delight that they may mend mankind	L3
And while they captivate inform the mind	L3
Still happier if he till a thankful soil	L4
And fruit reward his honourable toil	L4
But happier far who comfort those that wait	L3
To hear plain truth at Judah's hallow'd gate	L3
Their language simple as their manners meek	G4
No shining ornaments have they to seek	G4
Nor labour they nor time nor talents waste	L3
In sorting flowers to suit a fickle taste	L3
But while they speak the wisdom of the skies	E2
Which art can only darken and disguise	E2
The abundant harvest recompence divine	B
Repays their work the gleaning only mine	B

William Cowper

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