POETRY.
THE GREAT QUESTION.
IrcxED spirit, fold thy wings: why ever pine In aspirations infinite as old, Whose loving discontent still seeks the shrine Paved with Faith's interwoven squares of gold?
Still yearning after good—backsliding still Into the senseless follies of an hour—
Till man must hold that his most boasted will O'er small temptations has no touch of power,— I know not why I suffer or rejoice, Or why my heart-strings sound to varied chords ; I can but feel the great mysterious voice Which stirs all harmonies is one,—the Lord's.
For ever and for ever, it would seem, Onward the mighty Music's numbers roll ; And, spite of sense, my puny self I deem Some fitting part of that majestic whole.
I feel that worthily to fill that part, I must renounce Self's too unworthy side, And kill the weeds that choke both mind and heart, With noxious growth sweet flowers to over-ride.
Wherefore must good and ill upon the earth In a disordered order blended reign ? And out of every love and joy give birth To some wild shape of evil and of pain ?
The very things that save may turn to harm, The happiest instincts work unhappiness ; The very blessing with most power to charm Awake the question, what it is to bless.
Thou paradox supreme,—thou riddle met At every turning o'er and o'er again, Till every mortal creature half forget
That he but shares it with all other men,—
That ever since Being to being sprang, And Life her all-embracing flag unfurled, Like some huge millstone round our necks doth hang The great perplexity we call the World, Oh, give us rest ! oh, hush the yearning cry Of souls, for souls they are, that to all light Round and about them, yet prefer the Why, Which strains to solve the mysteries of Night!
Through whatsoever labyrinths we go. Whate'er high-roads or byways we have trod, Oh, grant us all alike at last to know The one solution of the problem,—God!
Teach us to feel, that were Earth pleasure all, No sin or sorrow to obscure the scene, Immortal hopes on mortal thoughts might pall ; Were this world Heaven, then Heaven could nothing mean.
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