PEACE-LOVING man, of humble heart and true What dost thou here? Fierce is the city's crowd; the lordly few Are dull of ear! Sore pain it was to thee, -- till thou didst quit Thy patriarch-throne at length, as though for power unfit. So works the All-wise! our services dividing Not as we ask: For the world's profit, by our gifts deciding Our duty-task. See in king's courts loth Jeremias plead; And slow-tongued Moses rule by eloquence of deed! Yes! thou, bright Angel of the East! didst rear The Cross divine, Borne high upon thy liquid accents, where Men mock'd the Sign; Till that cold city heard thy battle-cry, And hearts were stirr'd, and deem'd a Pentecost was nigh. Thou couldst a people raise, but couldst not rule: -- So, gentle one, Heaven set thee free, -- for, ere thy years were full, Thy work was done; According thee the lot thou lovedst best, To muse upon the past, -- to serve, yet be at rest. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MAD MAID'S SONG by ROBERT HERRICK STANZAS; HOOD'S LAST POEM by THOMAS HOOD SONNET: WRITTEN ON THE DAY THAT MR. LEIGH HUNT LEFT PRISON by JOHN KEATS ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY: THE HYMN by JOHN MILTON |