Poems, 1799 by Robert Southey
page 12 of 147 (08%)
page 12 of 147 (08%)
|
Seizes the throbbing heart, the faltering lips
Pour out the impious prayer, that fain would change The unchangeable's decree, surrounding friends Sob round the sufferer, wet his cheek with tears, And all he loved in life embitters death! Such, Maiden, are the pangs that wait the hour Of calmest dissolution! yet weak man Dares, in his timid piety, to live; And veiling Fear in Superstition's garb, He calls her Resignation! Coward wretch! Fond Coward! thus to make his Reason war Against his Reason! Insect as he is, This sport of Chance, this being of a day, Whose whole existence the next cloud may blast, Believes himself the care of heavenly powers, That God regards Man, miserable Man, And preaching thus of Power and Providence, Will crush the reptile that may cross his path! Fool that thou art! the Being that permits Existence, 'gives' to man the worthless boon: A goodly gift to those who, fortune-blest, Bask in the sunshine of Prosperity, And such do well to keep it. But to one Sick at the heart with misery, and sore With many a hard unmerited affliction, It is a hair that chains to wretchedness The slave who dares not burst it! |
|