Cheerfulness

SEE how the day beameth brightly before us I
Blue is the firmament — green is the earth —
Grief hath no voice in the Universe-chorus —
Nature is ringing with music and mirth.

Lift up the looks that are sinking in sadness —
Gaze! and if Beauty can capture thy soul,
Virtue herself will allure thee to gladness —
Gladness, Philosophy's guerdon and goal.

Enter the treasuries Pleasure uncloses —
List! how she thrills in the nightingale's lay!
Breathe! she is wafting thee sweets from the roses;
Feel! she is cool in the rivulet's play;
Taste! from the grape and the nectarine gushing

Flows the red rill in the beams of the sun —
Green in the hills, in the flowergroves blushing,
Look! she is always and everywhere one.
Banish, then, mourner, the tears that are trickling

Over the cheeks that should rosily bloom;
Why should a man, like a girl or a sickling,
Suffer his lamp to be quenched in the tomb?
Still may we battle for Goodness and Beauty;

Still hath Philanthropy much to essay:
Glory rewards the fulfilment of Duty;
Kest will pavilion the end of our way.
What, though corroding and multiplied sorrows,

Legion-like, darken this planet of ours,
Hope is a balsam the wounded heart borrows
Ever when Anguish hath palsied its powers;
Wherefore, though Fate play the part of a traitor,

Soar o'er the stars on the pinions of Hope,
Fearlessly certain that sooner or later
Over the stars thy desires shall have scope.
Look round about on the face of Creation!

Still is GOD'S Earth undistorted and bright;
Comfort the captives to long tribulation,
Thus shalt thou reap the more perfect delight.
Love! — but if Love be a hallowed emotion,

Purity only its rapture should share;
Love, then, with willing and deathless emotion,
All that is just and exalted and fair.
Act! — for in Action are Wisdom and Glory;

Fame, Immortality — these are its crown:
Wouldst thou illumine the tablets of Story,
Build on ACHIEVEMENTS thy Dome of Renown.
Honour and Feeling were given thee to cherish, —

Cherish them, then, though all else should decay:
Landmarks be these that are never to perish,
Stars that will shine on thy duskiest day.
Courage! — Disaster and Peril, once over,

Freshen the spirit, as showers the grove:
O'er the dim graves that the cypresses cover
Soon the Forget-Me-Not rises in love.
Courage, then, friends! Though the universe crumble,

Innocence, dreadless of danger beneath,
Patient and trustful and joyous and humble,
Smiles through the ruin on Darkness and Death.