O, NEVER despair! for our hopes, oftentime, Spring swiftly, as flowers in some tropical clime, Where the spot that was barren and scentless at night Is blooming and fragrant at morning's first light! The mariner marks, when the tempest rings loud, That the rainbow is brighter, the darker the cloud; Then, up! up! - never despair! The leaves which the sibyl presented of old, Though lessened in number, were not worth less gold; And though Fate steal our joys, do not think they're the best, The few she has spared may be worth all the rest. Good fortune oft comes in adversity's form, And the rainbow is brightest when darkest the storm; Then, up! up! - never despair! And when all creation was sunk in the flood, Sublime o'er the deluge the patriarch stood! Though destruction around him in thunder was hurled, Undaunted he looked on the wreck of the world! For, high o'er the ruin, hung Hope's blessed form, - The rainbow beamed bright through the gloom of the storm; Then, up! up! never despair! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONG OF THE LITTLE WHITE GIRL by KATHERINE MANSFIELD SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: STATE'S ATTORNEY FALLAS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS I LOOKED FOR LIFE AND DID A SHADOW SEE by JAMES GALVIN SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: IMANUEL EHRENHARDT by EDGAR LEE MASTERS MIDSUMMER FROST (1) by ISAAC ROSENBERG |