O, NEVER despair! for our hopes, oftentime, Spring swiftly, as flowers in some tropical clime, Where the spot that was barren and scentless at night Is blooming and fragrant at morning's first light! The mariner marks, when the tempest rings loud, That the rainbow is brighter, the darker the cloud; Then, up! up! - never despair! The leaves which the sibyl presented of old, Though lessened in number, were not worth less gold; And though Fate steal our joys, do not think they're the best, The few she has spared may be worth all the rest. Good fortune oft comes in adversity's form, And the rainbow is brightest when darkest the storm; Then, up! up! - never despair! And when all creation was sunk in the flood, Sublime o'er the deluge the patriarch stood! Though destruction around him in thunder was hurled, Undaunted he looked on the wreck of the world! For, high o'er the ruin, hung Hope's blessed form, - The rainbow beamed bright through the gloom of the storm; Then, up! up! never despair! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPISTLE TO MISS TERESA BLOUNT, ON HER LEAVING THE TOWN by ALEXANDER POPE THE LAMENT OF THE FLOWERS by JONES VERY TO WAKEN AN OLD LADY by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS EMERGENCY by WILLIAM ROSE BENET KING VICTOR EMANUEL ENTERS FLORENCE, APRIL, 1860 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING PARLEYINGS WITH CERTAIN PEOPLE OF IMPORTANCE: GEORGE BUBB DODINGTON by ROBERT BROWNING IMPROMPTU ON MRS. RIDDEL'S BIRTHDAY by ROBERT BURNS ON BEING SHEWN A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY SEAT by ROBERT BURNS THINKING OF SAINTS AND OF PETRONIUS ARBITHE by MARY BUTTS (1890-1937) |