Diktsamling

{
  "data": [
    {
      "author": "John Milton",
      "line_count": "486",
      "lines": [
        "Meanwhile the new-baptized, who yet remained",
        "At Jordan with the Baptist, and had seen",
        "Him whom they heard so late expressly called",
        "Jesus Messiah, Son of God, declared,",
        "And on that high authority had believed,",
        "And with him talked, and with him lodged—I mean",
        "Andrew and Simon, famous after known,",
        "With others, though in Holy Writ not named—",
        "Now missing him, their joy so lately found,",
        "So lately found and so abruptly gone,",
        "Began to doubt, and doubted many days,",
        "And, as the days increased, increased their doubt.",
        "Sometimes they thought he might be only shewn,",
        "And for a time caught up to God, as once",
        "Moses was in the Mount and missing long,",
        "And the great Thisbite, who on fiery wheels",
        "Rode up to Heaven, yet once again to come.",
        "Therefore, as those young prophets then with care",
        "Sought lost Eliah, so in each place these",
        "Nigh to Bethabara—in Jericho",
        "The city of palms, AEnon, and Salem old,",
        "Machaerus, and each town or city walled",
        "On this side the broad lake Genezaret,",
        "Or in Peraea—but returned in vain.",
        "Then on the bank of Jordan, by a creek,",
        "Where winds with reeds and osiers whispering play,",
        "Plain fishermen (no greater men them call),",
        "Close in a cottage low together got,",
        "Their unexpected loss and plaints outbreathed:—",
        "  \"Alas, from what high hope to what relapse",
        "Unlooked for are we fallen!  Our eyes beheld",
        "Messiah certainly now come, so long",
        "Expected of our fathers; we have heard",
        "His words, his wisdom full of grace and truth.",
        "'Now, now, for sure, deliverance is at hand;",
        "The kingdom shall to Israel be restored:'",
        "Thus we rejoiced, but soon our joy is turned",
        "Into perplexity and new amaze.",
        "For whither is he gone? what accident",
        "Hath rapt him from us? will he now retire",
        "After appearance, and again prolong",
        "Our expectation?  God of Israel,",
        "Send thy Messiah forth; the time is come.",
        "Behold the kings of the earth, how they oppress",
        "Thy Chosen, to what highth their power unjust",
        "They have exalted, and behind them cast",
        "All fear of Thee; arise, and vindicate",
        "Thy glory; free thy people from their yoke!",
        "But let us wait; thus far He hath performed—",
        "Sent his Anointed, and to us revealed him",
        "By his great Prophet pointed at and shown",
        "In public, and with him we have conversed.",
        "Let us be glad of this, and all our fears",
        "Lay on his providence; He will not fail,",
        "Nor will withdraw him now, nor will recall—",
        "Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence:",
        "Soon we shall see our hope, our joy, return.\"",
        "  Thus they out of their plaints new hope resume",
        "To find whom at the first they found unsought.",
        "But to his mother Mary, when she saw",
        "Others returned from baptism, not her Son,",
        "Nor left at Jordan tidings of him none,",
        "Within her breast though calm, her breast though pure,",
        "Motherly cares and fears got head, and raised",
        "Some troubled thoughts, which she in sighs thus clad:—",
        "  \"Oh, what avails me now that honour high,",
        "To have conceived of God, or that salute,",
        "'Hail, highly favoured, among women blest!'",
        "While I to sorrows am no less advanced,",
        "And fears as eminent above the lot",
        "Of other women, by the birth I bore:",
        "In such a season born, when scarce a shed",
        "Could be obtained to shelter him or me",
        "From the bleak air?  A stable was our warmth,",
        "A manger his; yet soon enforced to fly",
        "Thence into Egypt, till the murderous king",
        "Were dead, who sought his life, and, missing, filled",
        "With infant blood the streets of Bethlehem.",
        "From Egypt home returned, in Nazareth",
        "Hath been our dwelling many years; his life",
        "Private, unactive, calm, contemplative,",
        "Little suspicious to any king.  But now,",
        "Full grown to man, acknowledged, as I hear,",
        "By John the Baptist, and in public shewn,",
        "Son owned from Heaven by his Father's voice,",
        "I looked for some great change.  To honour? no;",
        "But trouble, as old Simeon plain foretold,",
        "That to the fall and rising he should be",
        "Of many in Israel, and to a sign",
        "Spoken against—that through my very soul",
        "A sword shall pierce.  This is my favoured lot,",
        "My exaltation to afflictions high!",
        "Afflicted I may be, it seems, and blest!",
        "I will not argue that, nor will repine.",
        "But where delays he now?  Some great intent",
        "Conceals him.  When twelve years he scarce had seen,",
        "I lost him, but so found as well I saw",
        "He could not lose himself, but went about",
        "His Father's business.  What he meant I mused—",
        "Since understand; much more his absence now",
        "Thus long to some great purpose he obscures.",
        "But I to wait with patience am inured;",
        "My heart hath been a storehouse long of things",
        "And sayings laid up, pretending strange events.\"",
        "  Thus Mary, pondering oft, and oft to mind",
        "Recalling what remarkably had passed",
        "Since first her Salutation heard, with thoughts",
        "Meekly composed awaited the fulfilling:",
        "The while her Son, tracing the desert wild,",
        "Sole, but with holiest meditations fed,",
        "Into himself descended, and at once",
        "All his great work to come before him set—",
        "How to begin, how to accomplish best",
        "His end of being on Earth, and mission high.",
        "For Satan, with sly preface to return,",
        "Had left him vacant, and with speed was gone",
        "Up to the middle region of thick air,",
        "Where all his Potentates in council sate.",
        "There, without sign of boast, or sign of joy,",
        "Solicitous and blank, he thus began:—",
        "  \"Princes, Heaven's ancient Sons, AEthereal Thrones—",
        "Daemonian Spirits now, from the element",
        "Each of his reign allotted, rightlier called",
        "Powers of Fire, Air, Water, and Earth beneath",
        "(So may we hold our place and these mild seats",
        "Without new trouble!)—such an enemy",
        "Is risen to invade us, who no less",
        "Threatens than our expulsion down to Hell.",
        "I, as I undertook, and with the vote",
        "Consenting in full frequence was impowered,",
        "Have found him, viewed him, tasted him; but find",
        "Far other labour to be undergone",
        "Than when I dealt with Adam, first of men,",
        "Though Adam by his wife's allurement fell,",
        "However to this Man inferior far—",
        "If he be Man by mother's side, at least",
        "With more than human gifts from Heaven adorned,",
        "Perfections absolute, graces divine,",
        "And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds.",
        "Therefore I am returned, lest confidence",
        "Of my success with Eve in Paradise",
        "Deceive ye to persuasion over-sure",
        "Of like succeeding here.  I summon all",
        "Rather to be in readiness with hand",
        "Or counsel to assist, lest I, who erst",
        "Thought none my equal, now be overmatched.\"",
        "  So spake the old Serpent, doubting, and from all",
        "With clamour was assured their utmost aid",
        "At his command; when from amidst them rose",
        "Belial, the dissolutest Spirit that fell,",
        "The sensualest, and, after Asmodai,",
        "The fleshliest Incubus, and thus advised:—",
        "  \"Set women in his eye and in his walk,",
        "Among daughters of men the fairest found.",
        "Many are in each region passing fair",
        "As the noon sky, more like to goddesses",
        "Than mortal creatures, graceful and discreet,",
        "Expert in amorous arts, enchanting tongues",
        "Persuasive, virgin majesty with mild",
        "And sweet allayed, yet terrible to approach,",
        "Skilled to retire, and in retiring draw",
        "Hearts after them tangled in amorous nets.",
        "Such object hath the power to soften and tame",
        "Severest temper, smooth the rugged'st brow,",
        "Enerve, and with voluptuous hope dissolve,",
        "Draw out with credulous desire, and lead",
        "At will the manliest, resolutest breast,",
        "As the magnetic hardest iron draws.",
        "Women, when nothing else, beguiled the heart",
        "Of wisest Solomon, and made him build,",
        "And made him bow, to the gods of his wives.\"",
        "  To whom quick answer Satan thus returned:—",
        "\"Belial, in much uneven scale thou weigh'st",
        "All others by thyself.  Because of old",
        "Thou thyself doat'st on womankind, admiring",
        "Their shape, their colour, and attractive grace,",
        "None are, thou think'st, but taken with such toys.",
        "Before the Flood, thou, with thy lusty crew,",
        "False titled Sons of God, roaming the Earth,",
        "Cast wanton eyes on the daughters of men,",
        "And coupled with them, and begot a race.",
        "Have we not seen, or by relation heard,",
        "In courts and regal chambers how thou lurk'st,",
        "In wood or grove, by mossy fountain-side,",
        "In valley or green meadow, to waylay",
        "Some beauty rare, Calisto, Clymene,",
        "Daphne, or Semele, Antiopa,",
        "Or Amymone, Syrinx, many more",
        "Too long—then lay'st thy scapes on names adored,",
        "Apollo, Neptune, Jupiter, or Pan,",
        "Satyr, or Faun, or Silvan?  But these haunts",
        "Delight not all.  Among the sons of men",
        "How many have with a smile made small account",
        "Of beauty and her lures, easily scorned",
        "All her assaults, on worthier things intent!",
        "Remember that Pellean conqueror,",
        "A youth, how all the beauties of the East",
        "He slightly viewed, and slightly overpassed;",
        "How he surnamed of Africa dismissed,",
        "In his prime youth, the fair Iberian maid.",
        "For Solomon, he lived at ease, and, full",
        "Of honour, wealth, high fare, aimed not beyond",
        "Higher design than to enjoy his state;",
        "Thence to the bait of women lay exposed.",
        "But he whom we attempt is wiser far",
        "Than Solomon, of more exalted mind,",
        "Made and set wholly on the accomplishment",
        "Of greatest things.  What woman will you find,",
        "Though of this age the wonder and the fame,",
        "On whom his leisure will voutsafe an eye",
        "Of fond desire?  Or should she, confident,",
        "As sitting queen adored on Beauty's throne,",
        "Descend with all her winning charms begirt",
        "To enamour, as the zone of Venus once",
        "Wrought that effect on Jove (so fables tell),",
        "How would one look from his majestic brow,",
        "Seated as on the top of Virtue's hill,",
        "Discountenance her despised, and put to rout",
        "All her array, her female pride deject,",
        "Or turn to reverent awe!  For Beauty stands",
        "In the admiration only of weak minds",
        "Led captive; cease to admire, and all her plumes",
        "Fall flat, and shrink into a trivial toy,",
        "At every sudden slighting quite abashed.",
        "Therefore with manlier objects we must try",
        "His constancy—with such as have more shew",
        "Of worth, of honour, glory, and popular praise",
        "(Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wrecked);",
        "Or that which only seems to satisfy",
        "Lawful desires of nature, not beyond.",
        "And now I know he hungers, where no food",
        "Is to be found, in the wide Wilderness:",
        "The rest commit to me; I shall let pass",
        "No advantage, and his strength as oft assay.\"",
        "  He ceased, and heard their grant in loud acclaim;",
        "Then forthwith to him takes a chosen band",
        "Of Spirits likest to himself in guile,",
        "To be at hand and at his beck appear,",
        "If cause were to unfold some active scene",
        "Of various persons, each to know his part;",
        "Then to the desert takes with these his flight,",
        "Where still, from shade to shade, the Son of God,",
        "After forty days' fasting, had remained,",
        "Now hungering first, and to himself thus said:—",
        "  \"Where will this end?  Four times ten days I have passed",
        "Wandering this woody maze, and human food",
        "Nor tasted, nor had appetite.  That fast",
        "To virtue I impute not, or count part",
        "Of what I suffer here.  If nature need not,",
        "Or God support nature without repast,",
        "Though needing, what praise is it to endure?",
        "But now I feel I hunger; which declares",
        "Nature hath need of what she asks.  Yet God",
        "Can satisfy that need some other way,",
        "Though hunger still remain.  So it remain",
        "Without this body's wasting, I content me,",
        "And from the sting of famine fear no harm;",
        "Nor mind it, fed with better thoughts, that feed",
        "Me hungering more to do my Father's will.\"",
        "  It was the hour of night, when thus the Son",
        "Communed in silent walk, then laid him down",
        "Under the hospitable covert nigh",
        "Of trees thick interwoven.  There he slept,",
        "And dreamed, as appetite is wont to dream,",
        "Of meats and drinks, nature's refreshment sweet.",
        "Him thought he by the brook of Cherith stood,",
        "And saw the ravens with their horny beaks",
        "Food to Elijah bringing even and morn—",
        "Though ravenous, taught to abstain from what they brought;",
        "He saw the Prophet also, how he fled",
        "Into the desert, and how there he slept",
        "Under a juniper—then how, awaked,",
        "He found his supper on the coals prepared,",
        "And by the Angel was bid rise and eat,",
        "And eat the second time after repose,",
        "The strength whereof sufficed him forty days:",
        "Sometimes that with Elijah he partook,",
        "Or as a guest with Daniel at his pulse.",
        "Thus wore out night; and now the harald Lark",
        "Left his ground-nest, high towering to descry",
        "The Morn's approach, and greet her with his song.",
        "As lightly from his grassy couch up rose",
        "Our Saviour, and found all was but a dream;",
        "Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked.",
        "Up to a hill anon his steps he reared,",
        "From whose high top to ken the prospect round,",
        "If cottage were in view, sheep-cote, or herd;",
        "But cottage, herd, or sheep-cote, none he saw—",
        "Only in a bottom saw a pleasant grove,",
        "With chaunt of tuneful birds resounding loud.",
        "Thither he bent his way, determined there",
        "To rest at noon, and entered soon the shade",
        "High-roofed, and walks beneath, and alleys brown,",
        "That opened in the midst a woody scene;",
        "Nature's own work it seemed (Nature taught Art),",
        "And, to a superstitious eye, the haunt",
        "Of wood-gods and wood-nymphs.  He viewed it round;",
        "When suddenly a man before him stood,",
        "Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad,",
        "As one in city or court or palace bred,",
        "And with fair speech these words to him addressed:—",
        "  \"With granted leave officious I return,",
        "But much more wonder that the Son of God",
        "In this wild solitude so long should bide,",
        "Of all things destitute, and, well I know,",
        "Not without hunger.  Others of some note,",
        "As story tells, have trod this wilderness:",
        "The fugitive Bond-woman, with her son,",
        "Outcast Nebaioth, yet found here relief",
        "By a providing Angel; all the race",
        "Of Israel here had famished, had not God",
        "Rained from heaven manna; and that Prophet bold,",
        "Native of Thebez, wandering here, was fed",
        "Twice by a voice inviting him to eat.",
        "Of thee those forty days none hath regard,",
        "Forty and more deserted here indeed.\"",
        "  To whom thus Jesus:—\"What conclud'st thou hence?",
        "They all had need; I, as thou seest, have none.\"",
        "  \"How hast thou hunger then?\" Satan replied.",
        "\"Tell me, if food were now before thee set,",
        "Wouldst thou not eat?\"  \"Thereafter as I like",
        "the giver,\" answered Jesus.  \"Why should that",
        "Cause thy refusal?\" said the subtle Fiend.",
        "\"Hast thou not right to all created things?",
        "Owe not all creatures, by just right, to thee",
        "Duty and service, nor to stay till bid,",
        "But tender all their power?  Nor mention I",
        "Meats by the law unclean, or offered first",
        "To idols—those young Daniel could refuse;",
        "Nor proffered by an enemy—though who",
        "Would scruple that, with want oppressed?  Behold,",
        "Nature ashamed, or, better to express,",
        "Troubled, that thou shouldst hunger, hath purveyed",
        "From all the elements her choicest store,",
        "To treat thee as beseems, and as her Lord",
        "With honour.  Only deign to sit and eat.\"",
        "  He spake no dream; for, as his words had end,",
        "Our Saviour, lifting up his eyes, beheld,",
        "In ample space under the broadest shade,",
        "A table richly spread in regal mode,",
        "With dishes piled and meats of noblest sort",
        "And savour—beasts of chase, or fowl of game,",
        "In pastry built, or from the spit, or boiled,",
        "Grisamber-steamed; all fish, from sea or shore,",
        "Freshet or purling brook, of shell or fin,",
        "And exquisitest name, for which was drained",
        "Pontus, and Lucrine bay, and Afric coast.",
        "Alas! how simple, to these cates compared,",
        "Was that crude Apple that diverted Eve!",
        "And at a stately sideboard, by the wine,",
        "That fragrant smell diffused, in order stood",
        "Tall stripling youths rich-clad, of fairer hue",
        "Than Ganymed or Hylas; distant more,",
        "Under the trees now tripped, now solemn stood,",
        "Nymphs of Diana's train, and Naiades",
        "With fruits and flowers from Amalthea's horn,",
        "And ladies of the Hesperides, that seemed",
        "Fairer than feigned of old, or fabled since",
        "Of faery damsels met in forest wide",
        "By knights of Logres, or of Lyones,",
        "Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore.",
        "And all the while harmonious airs were heard",
        "Of chiming strings or charming pipes; and winds",
        "Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fanned",
        "From their soft wings, and Flora's earliest smells.",
        "Such was the splendour; and the Tempter now",
        "His invitation earnestly renewed:—",
        "  \"What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat?",
        "These are not fruits forbidden; no interdict",
        "Defends the touching of these viands pure;",
        "Their taste no knowledge works, at least of evil,",
        "But life preserves, destroys life's enemy,",
        "Hunger, with sweet restorative delight.",
        "All these are Spirits of air, and woods, and springs,",
        "Thy gentle ministers, who come to pay",
        "Thee homage, and acknowledge thee their Lord.",
        "What doubt'st thou, Son of God?  Sit down and eat.\"",
        "  To whom thus Jesus temperately replied:—",
        "\"Said'st thou not that to all things I had right?",
        "And who withholds my power that right to use?",
        "Shall I receive by gift what of my own,",
        "When and where likes me best, I can command?",
        "I can at will, doubt not, as soon as thou,",
        "Command a table in this wilderness,",
        "And call swift flights of Angels ministrant,",
        "Arrayed in glory, on my cup to attend:",
        "Why shouldst thou, then, obtrude this diligence",
        "In vain, where no acceptance it can find?",
        "And with my hunger what hast thou to do?",
        "Thy pompous delicacies I contemn,",
        "And count thy specious gifts no gifts, but guiles.\"",
        "  To whom thus answered Satan, male-content:—",
        "\"That I have also power to give thou seest;",
        "If of that power I bring thee voluntary",
        "What I might have bestowed on whom I pleased,",
        "And rather opportunely in this place",
        "Chose to impart to thy apparent need,",
        "Why shouldst thou not accept it?  But I see",
        "What I can do or offer is suspect.",
        "Of these things others quickly will dispose,",
        "Whose pains have earned the far-fet spoil.\"  With that",
        "Both table and provision vanished quite,",
        "With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard;",
        "Only the importune Tempter still remained,",
        "And with these words his temptation pursued:—",
        "  \"By hunger, that each other creature tames,",
        "Thou art not to be harmed, therefore not moved;",
        "Thy temperance, invincible besides,",
        "For no allurement yields to appetite;",
        "And all thy heart is set on high designs,",
        "High actions.  But wherewith to be achieved?",
        "Great acts require great means of enterprise;",
        "Thou art unknown, unfriended, low of birth,",
        "A carpenter thy father known, thyself",
        "Bred up in poverty and straits at home,",
        "Lost in a desert here and hunger-bit.",
        "Which way, or from what hope, dost thou aspire",
        "To greatness? whence authority deriv'st?",
        "What followers, what retinue canst thou gain,",
        "Or at thy heels the dizzy multitude,",
        "Longer than thou canst feed them on thy cost?",
        "Money brings honour, friends, conquest, and realms.",
        "What raised Antipater the Edomite,",
        "And his son Herod placed on Juda's throne,",
        "Thy throne, but gold, that got him puissant friends?",
        "Therefore, if at great things thou wouldst arrive,",
        "Get riches first, get wealth, and treasure heap—",
        "Not difficult, if thou hearken to me.",
        "Riches are mine, fortune is in my hand;",
        "They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain,",
        "While virtue, valour, wisdom, sit in want.\"",
        "  To whom thus Jesus patiently replied:—",
        "\"Yet wealth without these three is impotent",
        "To gain dominion, or to keep it gained—",
        "Witness those ancient empires of the earth,",
        "In highth of all their flowing wealth dissolved;",
        "But men endued with these have oft attained,",
        "In lowest poverty, to highest deeds—",
        "Gideon, and Jephtha, and the shepherd lad",
        "Whose offspring on the throne of Juda sate",
        "So many ages, and shall yet regain",
        "That seat, and reign in Israel without end.",
        "Among the Heathen (for throughout the world",
        "To me is not unknown what hath been done",
        "Worthy of memorial) canst thou not remember",
        "Quintius, Fabricius, Curius, Regulus?",
        "For I esteem those names of men so poor,",
        "Who could do mighty things, and could contemn",
        "Riches, though offered from the hand of kings.",
        "And what in me seems wanting but that I",
        "May also in this poverty as soon",
        "Accomplish what they did, perhaps and more?",
        "Extol not riches, then, the toil of fools,",
        "The wise man's cumbrance, if not snare; more apt",
        "To slacken virtue and abate her edge",
        "Than prompt her to do aught may merit praise.",
        "What if with like aversion I reject",
        "Riches and realms!  Yet not for that a crown,",
        "Golden in shew, is but a wreath of thorns,",
        "Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights,",
        "To him who wears the regal diadem,",
        "When on his shoulders each man's burden lies;",
        "For therein stands the office of a king,",
        "His honour, virtue, merit, and chief praise,",
        "That for the public all this weight he bears.",
        "Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules",
        "Passions, desires, and fears, is more a king—",
        "Which every wise and virtuous man attains;",
        "And who attains not, ill aspires to rule",
        "Cities of men, or headstrong multitudes,",
        "Subject himself to anarchy within,",
        "Or lawless passions in him, which he serves.",
        "But to guide nations in the way of truth",
        "By saving doctrine, and from error lead",
        "To know, and, knowing, worship God aright,",
        "Is yet more kingly.  This attracts the soul,",
        "Governs the inner man, the nobler part;",
        "That other o'er the body only reigns,",
        "And oft by force—which to a generous mind",
        "So reigning can be no sincere delight.",
        "Besides, to give a kingdom hath been thought",
        "Greater and nobler done, and to lay down",
        "Far more magnanimous, than to assume.",
        "Riches are needless, then, both for themselves,",
        "And for thy reason why they should be sought—",
        "To gain a sceptre, oftest better missed.\""
      ],
      "title": "Paradise Regained: The Second Book"
    },
    {
      "author": "William Blake",
      "line_count": "8",
      "lines": [
        "My mother groaned, my father wept:",
        "Into the dangerous world I leapt,",
        "Helpless, naked, piping loud,",
        "Like a fiend hid in a cloud.",
        "",
        "Struggling in my father's hands,",
        "Striving against my swaddling-bands,",
        "Bound and weary, I thought best",
        "To sulk upon my mother's breast."
      ],
      "title": "Infant Sorrow"
    },
    {
      "author": "Robert Southey",
      "line_count": "299",
      "lines": [
        "Yet one Song more! one high and solemn strain",
        "Ere PAEAN! on thy temple's ruined wall",
        "I hang the silent harp: there may its strings,",
        "When the rude tempest shakes the aged pile,",
        "Make melancholy music. One Song more!",
        "PENATES! hear me! for to you I hymn",
        "The votive lay. Whether, as sages deem,",
        "Ye dwell in the inmost Heaven, the COUNSELLORS",
        "Of JOVE; or if, SUPREME OF DEITIES,",
        "All things are yours, and in your holy train",
        "JOVE proudly ranks, and JUNO, white arm'd Queen.",
        "",
        "And wisest of Immortals, aweful Maid",
        "ATHENIAN PALLAS. Venerable Powers!",
        "Hearken your hymn of praise! tho' from your rites",
        "Estranged, and exiled from your altars long,",
        "I have not ceased to love you, HOUSEHOLD GODS!",
        "In many a long and melancholy hour",
        "Of solitude and sorrow, has my heart",
        "With earnest longings prayed to rest at length",
        "Beside your hallowed hearth--for PEACE is there!",
        "",
        "Yes I have loved you long. I call on you",
        "Yourselves to witness with what holy joy,",
        "Shunning the polished mob of human kind,",
        "I have retired to watch your lonely fires",
        "And commune with myself. Delightful hours",
        "That gave mysterious pleasure, made me know",
        "All the recesses of my wayward heart,",
        "Taught me to cherish with devoutest care",
        "Its strange unworldly feelings, taught me too",
        "The best of lessons--to respect myself!",
        "",
        "Nor have I ever ceas'd to reverence you",
        "DOMESTIC DEITIES! from the first dawn",
        "Of reason, thro' the adventurous paths of youth",
        "Even to this better day, when on mine ear",
        "The uproar of contending nations sounds,",
        "But like the passing wind--and wakes no pulse",
        "To tumult. When a child--(for still I love",
        "To dwell with fondness on my childish years,",
        "Even as that Persian favorite would retire",
        "From the court's dangerous pageantry and pomp,",
        "To gaze upon his shepherd garb, and weep,",
        "Rememb'ring humble happiness.) When first",
        "A little one, I left my father's home,",
        "I can remember the first grief I felt,",
        "And the first painful smile that cloathed my front",
        "With feelings not its own: sadly at night",
        "I sat me down beside a stranger's hearth;",
        "And when the lingering hour of rest was come,",
        "First wet with tears my pillow. As I grew",
        "In years and knowledge, and the course of Time",
        "Developed the young feelings of my heart,",
        "When most I loved in solitude to rove",
        "Amid the woodland gloom; or where the rocks",
        "Darken'd old Avon's stream, in the ivied cave",
        "Recluse to sit and brood the future song,",
        "Yet not the less, PENATES, loved I then",
        "Your altars, not the less at evening hour",
        "Delighted by the well-trimm'd fire to sit,",
        "Absorbed in many a dear deceitful dream",
        "Of visionary joys: deceitful dreams--",
        "Not wholly vain--for painting purest joys,",
        "They form'd to Fancy's mould her votary's heart.",
        "",
        "By Cherwell's sedgey side, and in the meads",
        "Where Isis in her calm clear stream reflects",
        "The willow's bending boughs, at earliest dawn",
        "In the noon-tide hour, and when the night-mists rose,",
        "I have remembered you: and when the noise",
        "Of loud intemperance on my lonely ear",
        "Burst with loud tumult, as recluse I sat,",
        "Pondering on loftiest themes of man redeemed",
        "From servitude, and vice, and wretchedness,",
        "I blest you, HOUSEHOLD GODS! because I loved",
        "Your peaceful altars and serener rites.",
        "Nor did I cease to reverence you, when driven",
        "Amid the jarring crowd, an unfit man",
        "To mingle with the world; still, still my heart",
        "Sighed for your sanctuary, and inly pined;",
        "And loathing human converse, I have strayed",
        "Where o'er the sea-beach chilly howl'd the blast,",
        "And gaz'd upon the world of waves, and wished",
        "That I were far beyond the Atlantic deep,",
        "In woodland haunts--a sojourner with PEACE.",
        "",
        "Not idly fabled they the Bards inspired,",
        "Who peopled Earth with Deities. They trod",
        "The wood with reverence where the DRYADS dwelt;",
        "At day's dim dawn or evening's misty hour",
        "They saw the OREADS on their mountain haunts.",
        "And felt their holy influence, nor impure",
        "Of thought--or ever with polluted hands",
        "Touched they without a prayer the NAIAD'S spring;",
        "Yet was their influence transient; such brief awe",
        "Inspiring as the thunder's long loud peal",
        "Strikes to the feeble spirit. HOUSEHOLD GODS,",
        "Not such your empire! in your votaries' breasts",
        "No momentary impulse ye awake--",
        "Nor fleeting like their local energies,",
        "The deep devotion that your fanes impart.",
        "O ye whom YOUTH has wilder'd on your way,",
        "Or VICE with fair-mask'd foulness, or the lure",
        "Of FAME that calls ye to her crowded paths",
        "With FOLLY's rattle, to your HOUSEHOLD GODS",
        "Return! for not in VICE's gay abodes,",
        "Not in the unquiet unsafe halls of FAME",
        "Does HAPPINESS abide! O ye who weep",
        "Much for the many miseries of Mankind,",
        "More for their vices, ye whose honest eyes",
        "Frown on OPPRESSION,--ye whose honest hearts",
        "Beat high when FREEDOM sounds her dread tocsin;--",
        "O ye who quit the path of peaceful life",
        "Crusading for mankind--a spaniel race",
        "That lick the hand that beats them, or tear all",
        "Alike in frenzy--to your HOUSEHOLD GODS",
        "Return, for by their altars VIRTUE dwells",
        "And HAPPINESS with her; for by their fires",
        "TRANQUILLITY in no unsocial mood",
        "Sits silent, listening to the pattering shower;",
        "For, so SUSPICION sleep not at the gate",
        "Of WISDOM,--FALSEHOOD shall not enter there.",
        "",
        "As on the height of some huge eminence,",
        "Reach'd with long labour, the way-faring man",
        "Pauses awhile, and gazing o'er the plain",
        "With many a sore step travelled, turns him then",
        "Serious to contemplate the onward road,",
        "And calls to mind the comforts of his home,",
        "And sighs that he has left them, and resolves",
        "To stray no more: I on my way of life",
        "Muse thus PENATES, and with firmest faith",
        "Devote myself to you. I will not quit",
        "To mingle with the mob your calm abodes,",
        "Where, by the evening hearth CONTENTMENT sits",
        "And hears the cricket chirp; where LOVE delights",
        "To dwell, and on your altars lays his torch",
        "That burns with no extinguishable flame.",
        "",
        "Hear me ye POWERS benignant! there is one",
        "Must be mine inmate--for I may not chuse",
        "But love him. He is one whom many wrongs",
        "Have sicken'd of the world. There was a time",
        "When he would weep to hear of wickedness",
        "And wonder at the tale; when for the opprest",
        "He felt a brother's pity, to the oppressor",
        "A good man's honest anger. His quick eye",
        "Betray'd each rising feeling, every thought",
        "Leapt to his tongue. When first among mankind",
        "He mingled, by himself he judged of them,",
        "And loved and trusted them, to Wisdom deaf,",
        "And took them to his bosom. FALSEHOOD met",
        "Her unsuspecting victim, fair of front,",
        "And lovely as Apega's sculptured form,",
        "Like that false image caught his warm embrace",
        "And gored his open breast. The reptile race",
        "Clung round his bosom, and with viper folds",
        "Encircling, stung the fool who fostered them.",
        "His mother was SIMPLICITY, his sire",
        "BENEVOLENCE; in earlier days he bore",
        "His father's name; the world who injured him",
        "Call him MISANTHROPY. I may not chuse",
        "But love him, HOUSEHOLD GODS! for we were nurst",
        "In the same school.",
        "",
        "PENATES! some there are",
        "Who say, that not in the inmost heaven ye dwell,",
        "Gazing with eye remote on all the ways",
        "Of man, his GUARDIAN GODS; wiselier they deem",
        "A dearer interest to the human race",
        "Links you, yourselves the SPIRITS OF THE DEAD.",
        "No mortal eye may pierce the invisible world,",
        "No light of human reason penetrate",
        "That depth where Truth lies hid. Yet to this faith",
        "My heart with instant sympathy assents;",
        "And I would judge all systems and all faiths",
        "By that best touchstone, from whose test DECEIT",
        "Shrinks like the Arch-Fiend at Ithuriel's spear,",
        "And SOPHISTRY'S gay glittering bubble bursts,",
        "As at the spousals of the Nereid's son,",
        "When that false Florimel, by her prototype",
        "Display'd in rivalry, with all her charms",
        "Dissolved away.",
        "",
        "Nor can the halls of Heaven",
        "Give to the human soul such kindred joy,",
        "As hovering o'er its earthly haunts it feels,",
        "When with the breeze it wantons round the brow",
        "Of one beloved on earth; or when at night",
        "In dreams it comes, and brings with it the DAYS",
        "And JOYS that are no more, Or when, perchance",
        "With power permitted to alleviate ill",
        "And fit the sufferer for the coming woe,",
        "Some strange presage the SPIRIT breathes, and fills",
        "The breast with ominous fear, and disciplines",
        "For sorrow, pours into the afflicted heart",
        "The balm of resignation, and inspires",
        "With heavenly hope. Even as a Child delights",
        "To visit day by day the favorite plant",
        "His hand has sown, to mark its gradual growth,",
        "And watch all anxious for the promised flower;",
        "Thus to the blessed spirit, in innocence",
        "And pure affections like a little child,",
        "Sweet will it be to hover o'er the friends",
        "Beloved; then sweetest if, as Duty prompts,",
        "With earthly care we in their breasts have sown",
        "The seeds of Truth and Virtue, holy flowers",
        "Whose odour reacheth Heaven.",
        "",
        "When my sick Heart,",
        "(Sick with hope long delayed, than, which no care",
        "Presses the crush'd heart heavier from itself",
        "Seeks the best comfort, often have I deemed",
        "That thou didst witness every inmost thought",
        "SEWARD! my dear dead friend! for not in vain,",
        "Oh early summon'd in thy heavenly course!",
        "Was thy brief sojourn here: me didst thou leave",
        "With strengthen'd step to follow the right path",
        "Till we shall meet again. Meantime I soothe",
        "The deep regret of Nature, with belief,",
        "My EDMUND! that thine eye's celestial ken",
        "Pervades me now, marking no mean joy",
        "The movements of the heart that loved thee well!",
        "",
        "Such feelings Nature prompts, and hence your rites",
        "DOMESTIC GODS! arose. When for his son",
        "With ceaseless grief Syrophanes bewail'd,",
        "Mourning his age left childless, and his wealth",
        "Heapt for an alien, he with fixed eye",
        "Still on the imaged marble of the dead",
        "Dwelt, pampering sorrow. Thither from his wrath",
        "A safe asylum, fled the offending slave,",
        "And garlanded the statue and implored",
        "His young lost Lord to save: Remembrance then",
        "Softened the father, and he loved to see",
        "The votive wreath renewed, and the rich smoke",
        "Curl from the costly censer slow and sweet.",
        "From Egypt soon the sorrow-soothing rites",
        "Divulging spread; before your idol forms",
        "By every hearth the blinded Pagan knelt,",
        "Pouring his prayers to these, and offering there",
        "Vain sacrifice or impious, and sometimes",
        "With human blood your sanctuary defil'd:",
        "Till the first BRUTUS, tyrant-conquering chief,",
        "Arose; he first the impious rites put down,",
        "He fitliest, who for FREEDOM lived and died,",
        "The friend of humankind. Then did your feasts",
        "Frequent recur and blameless; and when came",
        "The solemn festival, whose happiest rites",
        "Emblem'd EQUALITY, the holiest truth!",
        "Crown'd with gay garlands were your statues seen,",
        "To you the fragrant censer smok'd, to you",
        "The rich libation flow'd: vain sacrifice!",
        "For nor the poppy wreath nor fruits nor wine.",
        "Ye ask, PENATES! nor the altar cleans'd",
        "With many a mystic form; ye ask the heart",
        "Made pure, and by domestic Peace and Love",
        "Hallowed to you.",
        "",
        "Hearken your hymn of praise,",
        "PENATES! to your shrines I come for rest,",
        "There only to be found. Often at eve,",
        "Amid my wanderings I have seen far off",
        "The lonely light that spake of comfort there,",
        "It told my heart of many a joy of home,",
        "And my poor heart was sad. When I have gazed",
        "From some high eminence on goodly vales",
        "And cots and villages embower'd below,",
        "The thought would rise that all to me was strange",
        "Amid the scene so fair, nor one small spot",
        "Where my tir'd mind might rest and call it home,",
        "There is a magic in that little word;",
        "It is a mystic circle that surrounds",
        "Comforts and Virtues never known beyond",
        "The hallowed limit. Often has my heart",
        "Ached for that quiet haven; haven'd now,",
        "I think of those in this world's wilderness",
        "Who wander on and find no home of rest",
        "Till to the grave they go! them POVERTY",
        "Hollow-eyed fiend, the child of WEALTH and POWER,",
        "Bad offspring of worse parents, aye afflicts,",
        "Cankering with her foul mildews the chill'd heart--",
        "Them WANT with scorpion scourge drives to the den",
        "Of GUILT--them SLAUGHTER with the price of death",
        "Buys for her raven brood. Oh not on them",
        "GOD OF ETERNAL JUSTICE! not on them",
        "Let fall thy thunder!",
        "",
        "HOUSEHOLD DEITIES!",
        "Then only shall be Happiness on earth",
        "When Man shall feel your sacred power, and love",
        "Your tranquil joys; then shall the city stand",
        "A huge void sepulchre, and rising fair",
        "Amid the ruins of the palace pile",
        "The Olive grow, there shall the TREE OF PEACE",
        "Strike its roots deep and flourish. This the state",
        "Shall bless the race redeemed of Man, when WEALTH",
        "And POWER and all their hideous progeny",
        "Shall sink annihilate, and all mankind",
        "Live in the equal brotherhood of LOVE.",
        "Heart-calming hope and sure! for hitherward",
        "Tend all the tumults of the troubled world,",
        "Its woes, its wisdom, and its wickedness",
        "Alike: so he hath will'd whose will is just.",
        "",
        "Meantime, all hoping and expecting all",
        "In patient faith, to you, DOMESTIC GODS!",
        "I come, studious of other lore than song,",
        "Of my past years the solace and support:",
        "Yet shall my Heart remember the past years",
        "With honest pride, trusting that not in vain",
        "Lives the pure song of LIBERTY and TRUTH."
      ],
      "title": "Hymn To The Penates"
    }
  ],
  "success": true
}