ON THE DEATH OF MR. THOMAS KNEATH, A WELL-KNOWN TEACHER OF NAVIGATION, AT SWANSEA.
He pupils taught to brave the gale Secure on life's tempestuous sea; Then, pupil he of Death, set sail To navigate Eternity.
The students taught by him--return In safety to their friends ashore; But tutor Death, so cold and stern, Brings back his pupils--never-more.
EXTRACTS FROM SOME UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT.
Blame not the world: But blame its law that makes it crime akin To be of lowly birth--to lack the gold Whereby to coat the mask to cheat the world Of sterling merit. See yon beauteous fly Breaking its plumage 'gainst the glassy pane, Till spent and weary, yearning tow'rds the sun. E'en so the lowly-born but large of soul See not, but feel, the chilling barrier Set up by Pride to mar their sky-ward flight To liberty and life.
See, when the simple moth doth blindly rush To reach the flame, its life oft pays the debt Of folly. Yet 'tis nobler thus to die Midst all the brightness of a waking life, Than from the world ooze out through darkened ways By beggarly instalments--none to feel Thy life but thine own poor ignoble self: And none to tell the moment of thy death Save those who profit by it.
Ne'er seek, by artful guise of words, to taint The truth with falsehood's hue. Poor, trembling Truth! Trust in her would be boundless, if our tongues Uttered the coin as fashioned in the heart. And then poor Heart would have no need to send Her champion blushes to the cheeks to tell The world how basely she had been traduced.
O love sublime! How thy sweet influence agitates the soul, Voicing its hidden chords, as breathing winds Wake the rude harp to thrilling melody. All things must pass away; but love shall live For ever. 'Tis th' immortal soul of life. Scathless and beauteous midst th' incongruous mass Of desolated hearts and stricken souls, And spirits faintful 'neath a world of woe, And dusky millions in the mine of life; And all the rank corruption of the earth-- Its weeds, its thorns, its sadness-breeding hate; Its selfishness, its swallow-pinioned friends; Its rottenness of core and lack of truth: When all have changed, save Nature and itself, This Heaven-sent flow'r of Eden--peerless love-- Shall blossom in Evangel purity, And sanctify a host to people Heaven.