Life Triumphant
To suffer woes which hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
To defy power, which seems omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope till hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;
This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;
This is alone life, joy, empire, and victory!
—Percy B. Shelley.
COMPLAINT
How seldom, Friend! a good great man inherits
Honor or wealth, with all his worth and pains!
It sounds like stories from the land of spirits,
If any man obtain that which he merits,
Or any merit that which he obtains.
—S. T. Colbridge.
Reproof
For shame, dear Friend; renounce this canting strain!
What would you have a good great man obtain?
Place—titles—salary—a gilded chain—
Or throne of corses which his sword has slain?
Greatness and goodness are not means, but ends!
Hath he not always treasures, always friends,
The good great man? three treasures,—love and light,
And calm thoughts, regular as infant’s breath;
And three firm friends, more sure than day and night—
Himself, his Maker, and the angel Death.
—S. T. Colbridge.
Alternate Reading: Romans 13:1-14.