The lips gigantic seemed to move and "Know'st thou his name that bid Arise yon Pyramid ? say, Know'st thou who placed me where I stand to-day? Thy deeds are but as sand, Strewn on the heedless land: Think, little mortal, think! and pass upon thy way! The autumn sickle shall destroy thy prime ! Bid nations shout the word Which ne'er before they heard, The name of Glory, fearful, yet sublime ;— The Pharaohs are forgot, Their works confess them not: Pass, Hero! Pass, poor straw upon the gulf of Time!" XXV. TO ONE WHO WAS AFRAID TO SPEAK HIS MIND ON A GREAT QUESTION. I. SHAME upon thee, craven spirit! Is it manly, just, or brave, If a truth have shone within thee, To conceal the light it gave ;- II. All conviction should be valiant; Tell thy truth, if truth it be ; Thoughts, like rivers, find the sea; It will fit the widening circle Of Eternal Verity. III. Speak thy thought if thou believ'st it, Let it jostle whom it may, E'en although the foolish scorn it, Or the obstinate gainsay: Every seed that grows to-morrow IV. If our sires, the noble-hearted, Pioneers of things to come, Had like thee been weak and timid, Traitors to themselves, and dumb, Where would be our present knowledge? Where the hoped Millennium? XXV. TO ONE WHO WAS AFRAID TO SPEAK HIS MIND ON A GREAT QUESTION. I. SHAME upon thee, craven spirit! Is it manly, just, or brave, If a truth have shone within thee, To conceal the light it gave ;— Free to speak, but yet a slave? II. All conviction should be valiant; Tell thy truth, if truth it be; Never seek to stem its current ; Thoughts, like rivers, find the sea; It will fit the widening circle Of Eternal Verity. III. Speak thy thought if thou believ'st it, Let it jostle whom it may, E'en although the foolish scorn it, Or the obstinate gainsay: Every seed that grows to-morrow 1v. If our sires, the noble-hearted, Pioneers of things to come, Had like thee been weak and timid, Traitors to themselves, and dumb, Where would be our present knowledge? Where the hoped Millennium? |