O'ER many a wish frustrated, purpose foiled, Still dost thou weep, discouraged Soul of Man? Be comforted, since even Nature can Too rarely triumph fully where she toiled; Behold the tree, the flower, the cloud despoiled Of beauty, which was virtue in her plan; A thousand times her purposes outran Their issues, maimed and crippled, bent and soiled. If many evenings close in faintest gray Before one glorious sunset crowns the day, If, for one oak, a myriad acorns rot, If Nature fails a thousand times ere one Clear master-stroke of beauty fronts the sun, Man's frequent frailty may deject him not. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: FIDDLER JONES by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SOUTH WIND by SIEGFRIED SASSOON GOD'S DETERMINATIONS: THE PREFACE by EDWARD TAYLOR THE MYSTIC TRUMPETER by WALT WHITMAN PSALM 73: INTRODUCTORY LINES by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE HINC LACHRIMAE; OR THE AUTHOR TO AURORA: 29 by WILLIAM BOSWORTH |