Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-02-24
poefru.
CONFESSION AND APOLOGY.

lis time that should loose from life at last
This hearts unworthy longing FOR the past,
Ere life be turned to loathing.
Por love- at least this love Of one for one,
Is. AZ the best, not AL beneath the sun,
And at the worst, IDS nothing.
Not that Of all the past, would forget
one pleasure or one pain. I cherish yet.
And would dishonor never.
All have felt. But cherished though It be,
lis time my past should set my future free,
For hfe's renewed ende2yor.
Nc much reverence that remorse which flies
To desert caves, and bids its dupes despise
Themselves or whom il preys;
Visiting the worth of life on worthless pain,
To make the future. as the past was. vain.
By endless selfdispraise-
A though. forsooth because q man IL not
HIS selfmade god, he needs must curse his lot
With sef-contempti aS though
Some squalid maniac, that with lifelong moan
Iasults mans flesh and blood. with these hath done
The best that man can dol
Nor am l keen to urge that common claim
On this world or another-here, for fame,
which Mi only % grows on ssasssn sss H.,
By earth's joys stinted, Of celestial cheer;
The stimulant Of slaves
Not for reward, not for release of pain.
But with q rfans imperative disdain
OF all that wastes mans nature.
Rise o my soul and reach to loftier things.
UntramIaeled by this forid weed that cIings.
Stunning spirits staturei
Twas not born to sit with shrouded head,
Piping shrin ditties to the unburied dead.
While ife's armed host sweeps by.
/ hear the clarion call, the war-steed neigh.
TIE banner huttering in the winds free play,
The brave mans bsttle-cry-
AndIam conscious that, where all things strive,
lis shameful to sit still would not live
Content with life lost
In chasing mine own fancies through void air,
Or decking forth in forms and phrases fair
The miserable ghost
OF personal 10y pain The ages roll
For ard, and. forward with them, draw my soul
Into times infinite sea.
And to be glad. sad. care no more;
But to have done, and to have been, before
Icease TO do and be.
From the minutest struggle to excel,
OF things whose nonentary myriAds dwell
In drops Of dew confined,
To spirits standing On hfe's upmost stair,
Whose utterances alter worlds, and are
The makers Of mankind
All things cry shame on lips that squander speech
In words which, If lot deeds, are worthless each,
Not here are such worss wanted,
Where all bestirs itself. where dumb things do,
By nobiy silent action. SPEAK, and go
Forth to their fates undaunted
Mans troublous birthright for q brute's repOsei
Shame on the eyes that see
This mighty universe. yet see not there
Something Of dific.Ilt worth = man may dare
Bravely TO do and bel
Yet is there naught for shame in anything
Once dear and beautiful. The shriveled wing.
scatheG by what seemed q star,
And proved, alasl no star, but withering IRE,
Is worthier than the wingless worms desire
For nothing fair or far.
Rather the ground that's deep enough for graves,
Rather the stream that's strong enough for waves
Than the loose sandy drift
Whose shifting -urface cherishes no seed
Either OF any flower or any weed,
Whichever way 1t shift,
Naught hnsing there to prey upon: prize
Why should mans spirit shrink
From feeling to the utmost-be II pain
Or pleasure-an twas formed. nor formed in vain,
To feel with force? Think
That never to have aimed and missed is not
To have achieved hold the lofier lot
To ennoble. nc escape,
Life's sorrows and loves pangs- count man,
Though sick to death, for something hobler than
healthy dog ape
Ideem that nothing suffered or enjoyed
BY mans soul deserves to be destroyed:
But rather to be made
Means of q souls increased capacity
Either to suffer. and to gain thereby
more exalted grade
Among the spirits purified by pain;
Or to enjoy, and thereby to attain
That loveler influence
Reserved for spirits that. m d the general moan
OF human sriefs. praise God with clezrest tone
OF joyous trust intense
And for this reason. 1 would yet keep fair
And fresh the memory of all things that we're
Sweet in their place and season;
And forgive my life its failures too.
Since failures old, TO guide endeavors new,
prize for the same reason