Personal Poems II - Part 2, from Volume IV., the Works of Whittier: Personal Poems by John Greenleaf Whittier
page 31 of 89 (34%)
page 31 of 89 (34%)
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And Truth's directness, meeting each occasion
Straight as a line of light. His faith and works, like streams that intermingle, In the same channel ran The crystal clearness of an eye kept single Shamed all the frauds of man. The very gentlest of all human natures He joined to courage strong, And love outreaching unto all God's creatures With sturdy hate of wrong. Tender as woman, manliness and meekness In him were so allied That they who judged him by his strength or weakness Saw but a single side. Men failed, betrayed him, but his zeal seemed nourished By failure and by fall; Still a large faith in human-kind he cherished, And in God's love for all. And now he rests: his greatness and his sweetness No more shall seem at strife, And death has moulded into calm completeness The statue of his life. Where the dews glisten and the songbirds warble, His dust to dust is laid, |
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