Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO DUTY, by THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO DUTY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Light of dim mornings, shield from heat and cold
Last Line: Oh, can it be, thine other name is heaven?
Subject(s): Duty


LIGHT of dim mornings; shield from heat and cold;
Balm for all ailments; substitute for praise;
Comrade of those who plod in lonely ways
(Ways that grow lonelier as the years wax old);
Tonic for fears; check to the over-bold;
Nurse, whose calm hand its strong restriction lays,
Kind but resistless, on our wayward days;
Mart, where high wisdom at vast price is sold;
Gardener, whose touch bids the rose-petals fall,
The thorns endure; surgeon, who human hearts
Searchest with probes, though the death-touch be given;
Spell that knits friends, but yearning lovers parts;
Tyrant relentless o'er our blisses all; --
Oh, can it be, thine other name is Heaven?





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