As when untaught and blind,
To the mute stone the pagan bows his knee,
Spirit of Love! phantom of my own mind!
So have I worshipped thee!
When first a laughing child,
I gazed on nature with a wondering eye,
I...
* * *
The Errors of a Wise Man make your Rule
Rather than the Perfections of a Fool
Escape is such a thankful Word
I often in the Night
Consider it unto myself
No spectacle in sight
Escape — it is the Basket
In which the Heart is caught
When down some awful Battlement
The rest of Life is dropt —
'Tis not to sight the savior —
It is to be...
Escaping backward to perceive
The Sea upon our place —
Escaping forward, to confront
His glittering Embrace —
Retreating up, a Billow's height
Retreating blinded down
Our undermining feet to meet
Instructs to the Divine.
'Tis hard to say, if greater Want of Skill
Appear in Writing or in Judging ill,
But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' Offence,
To tire our Patience, than mis-lead our Sense:
Some few in that, but Numbers err in this,
Ten Censure wrong for one who Writes amiss;
A Fool might once himself alone expose,...