a fragment.
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That in thy spirit shall upspring for ever!
Twinned with thy soul, it lived in thy first thoughts,—
It haunted with strange dreams thy boyish years,
And colored with its deep, empurpled hue
The passionate aspirations of thy youth.
Go, take from June her roses,—from her streams
The bubbling fountain-springs,—from life take love,—
Thou hast its all of sweetness, bloom, and strength.
Twinned with thy soul, it lived in thy first thoughts,—
It haunted with strange dreams thy boyish years,
And colored with its deep, empurpled hue
The passionate aspirations of thy youth.
Go, take from June her roses,—from her streams
The bubbling fountain-springs,—from life take love,—
Thou hast its all of sweetness, bloom, and strength.
There is a grandeur in the soul that dares
To live out all the life God lit within,—
That battles with the passions hand to hand,
And wears no mail, and hides behind no shield,—
That plucks its joy in the shadow of death's wing,—
That drains with one deep draught the wine of life,
And that with fearless foot and heaven-turned eye
May stand upon a dizzy precipice,
High o'er the abyss of ruin, and not fall!
To live out all the life God lit within,—
That battles with the passions hand to hand,
And wears no mail, and hides behind no shield,—
That plucks its joy in the shadow of death's wing,—
That drains with one deep draught the wine of life,
And that with fearless foot and heaven-turned eye
May stand upon a dizzy precipice,
High o'er the abyss of ruin, and not fall!
