TIME makes us eagle-eyed: Our fantasies befriend us in our youth, And build the shadowy tents wherein we hide Out of the glare of truth. Make no haste to despise The proud of spirit: ofttimes pride but is An armor worn to shield from insolent eyes Our human weaknesses. Be slow to blame his course Or name him coward who disdains to fight: Courage is just a blind impelling force, And often wrong as right. Condemn not her whose hours Are not all given to spinning nor to care: Has not God planted every path with flowers Whose end is to be fair? Think not that he is cold Who runneth not your proffered hand to touch: On feeling's heights 't is wise the step to hold From trembling overmuch; And though its household sweets Affection may through daily channels give, The heart is chary, and ecstatic beats Once only while we live. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPIGRAM: A LAME BEGGAR by JOHN DONNE FAUST: SCENE 1. PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE EPITAPHS OF THE WAR, 1914-18: THE COWARD by RUDYARD KIPLING SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: LUCINDA MATLOCK by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SONNET: LOVE'S HEIGHT by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON MARCELIA; A TRAGICOMEDY, SELECTION by FRANCES BOOTHBY |