John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.
Songs of Labor and ReformSongs of Labor
Dedication
I
Might graces from thy favor take,
And, seen through Friendship’s atmosphere,
On softened lines and coloring, wear
The unaccustomed light of beauty, for thy sake.
But what I have I give to thee,
The o’er-sunned bloom of summer’s plain,
And paler flowers, the latter rain
Calls from the westering slope of life’s autumnal lea.
Where youth’s enchanted forest stood,
Dry root and mossëd trunk between,
A sober after-growth is seen,
As springs the pine where falls the gay-leafed maple wood!
Their leaf-harps in the sombre tree;
And through the bleak and wintry day
It keeps its steady green alway,—
So, even my after-thoughts may have a charm for thee.
And beauty is its own excuse;
But for the dull and flowerless weed
Some healing virtue still must plead,
And the rough ore must find its honors in its use.
Of homely toil, may serve to show
The orchard bloom and tasselled maize
That skirt and gladden duty’s ways,
The unsung beauty hid life’s common things below.
Above his forge or plough, may gain,
A manlier spirit of content,
And feel that life is wisest spent
Where the strong working hand makes strong the working brain.
Without the walls of Eden came,
Transforming sinless ease to care
And rugged toil, no more shall bear
The burden of old crime, or mark of primal shame.
Since He, whose name we breathe with awe,
The coarse mechanic vesture wore,
A poor man toiling with the poor,
In labor, as in prayer, fulfilling the same law.