TO ALTHEA FROM PRISON
In the great Civil War in England between the Puritans and Charles the First the author of this poem sacrificed everything in the royal cause.
That cause was defeated and Lovelace was imprisoned. In these stanzas he makes the most of his gloomy situation and sings the joys of various kinds of freedom. First is the freedom brought by love, when his sweetheart speaks to him through the grate of the dungeon. Second is the freedom brought by the recollection of good fellowship, when tried and true comrades took their wine straight--"with no allaying Thames." Third is the freedom brought by remembrance of the king for whom he was suffering. Finally comes the pa.s.sionate and heroic a.s.sertion that though the body of a man may be confined, nevertheless his spirit can remain free and chainless.
When Love with unconfined wings Hovers within my gates, And my divine Althea brings To whisper at the grates; When I lie tangled in her hair And fetter"d to her eye, The G.o.ds that wanton in the air Know no such liberty.
When flowing cups run swiftly round With no allaying Thames, Our careless heads with roses bound, Our hearts with loyal flames; When thirsty grief in wine we steep, When healths and draughts go free-- Fishes that tipple in the deep Know no such liberty.
When (like committed linnets) I With shriller throat shall sing The sweetness, mercy, majesty And glories of my King; When I shall voice aloud how good He is, how great should be, Enlarged winds, that curl the flood, Know no such liberty.
Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage; If I have freedom in my love And in my soul am free, Angels alone, that soar above, Enjoy such liberty.
_Richard Lovelace._
GRIEF
Shakespeare says: "I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching." This is especially true regarding grief or affliction. "Man was born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward," but we bid other people bear their sorrows manfully; we should therefore bear ours with equal courage.
Upon this trouble shall I whet my life As "twere a dulling knife; Bade I my friend be brave?
I shall still braver be.
No man shall say of me, "Others he saved, himself he cannot save."
But swift and fair As the Primeval word that smote the night-- "Let there be light!"
Courage shall leap from me, a gallant sword To rout the enemy and all his horde, Cleaving a kingly pathway through despair.
_Angela Morgan._
From "Forward, March!"
THE RECTIFYING YEARS
Time brings the deeper understanding that clears up our misconceptions; it shows us the error of our hates; it dispels our worries and our fears; it allays the grief that seemed too poignant to be borne.
Yes, things are more or less amiss; To-day it"s that, to-morrow this; Yet with so much that"s out of whack, Life does not wholly jump the track Because, since matters move along, No _one_ thing"s always _staying_ wrong.
So heed not failures, losses, fears, But trust the rectifying years.
What we shall have"s not what we"ve got; Our pains don"t linger in one spot-- They skip about; the seesaw"s end That"s up will mighty soon descend; You"ve looked at bacon? Life"s like that-- A streak of lean, a streak of fat.
Change, like a sky that clouds, that clears, Hangs o"er the rectifying years.
Uneven things not leveled down Are somehow simply got aroun"; The sting is taken from offence; The evil has its recompense; The broken heart is knit again; The baffled longing knows not pain; Wrong fades and trouble disappears Before the rectifying years.
Then envy, hate towards man or cla.s.s Should from your sinful nature pa.s.s.
Though others hold a higher place Or have more power or wealth or grace, The best of them, be sure, cannot Escape the common human lot; So many smiles, so many tears Come with the rectifying years.
_St. Clair Adams._
TO THOSE WHO FAIL
We too often praise the man who wins just because he wins; the plaudits and laurels of victory are the unthinking crowd"s means of estimating success. But the vanquished may have fought more n.o.bly than the victor; he may have done his best against hopeless odds. As Addison makes Cato say,
""Tis not in mortals to command success, But we"ll do more, Semp.r.o.nius,--we"ll deserve it."
"All honor to him who shall win the prize,"
The world has cried for a thousand years; But to him who tries, and who fails and dies, I give great honor and glory and tears;
Give glory and honor and pitiful tears To all who fail in their deeds sublime; Their ghosts are many in the van of years, They were born with Time, in advance of Time.
Oh, great is the hero who wins a name, But greater many and many a time Some pale-faced fellow who dies in shame, And lets G.o.d finish the thoughts sublime.
And great is the man with a sword undrawn, And good is the man who refrains from wine; But the man who fails and yet still fights on, Lo, he is the twin-born brother of mine.
_Joaquin Miller._
From "Joaquin Miller"s Complete Poems."
HELPING" OUT
"I always look out for Number One," was the favorite remark of a man who thought he had found the great rule to success, but he had only stated his own doctrine of selfishness, and his life was never very successful.
A man must be big to succeed, and selfishness is always cramping and narrow.
Da"s a lot of folks what preach all day An" always pointing" out de way, Dey say dat prayin" all de time An" keepin" yo" heart all full of rhyme Will lead yo" soul to heights above Whah angels coo like a turtledove.