Talk not of feelings, and of frames

Talk not of feelings, and of frames,
When duties round thee lie,
They are but empty sounds and names,
These a reality.

Waste not thy life in idle dreams
Of what that life should be,
But live it, — use rt, — for it teems
With tasks for thee and me.

Talk — it is easy, — dreams are sloth, —
Mere wishes idler still,
Thy heart and hand, God wants them both
To love and do His will.

Then rise, and in His strengthening might
The narrow path pursue,
There wait, or watch, or rest, or fight, —
Whate'er is duty — do.

Do with that earnest faith, whose creed
Mere words could ne'er declare,
Spoken in every daily deed,
And every nightly prayer.