I SAW an idler on a summer day Piping with Iris by a dancing brook;And all his world was rife with Pleasures gay, And languid Follies smiled from every nook.
I saw an artist in a world of dreams, His rainbow rising from his radiant task, To throw its magic prism beams O'er Fancy's changeful masque and counter-masque.
I saw Toil--stooping underneath a world Whereon his foster-brothers lighter tread, His skyward pinions ever closer furled Before the grim necessity of bread!
I saw a sinner working hard to be Worthy his death-wage from the mint of time;I saw a sailor, unto whom the sea Was hearth and hope and love and wedding-chime.
I saw a mother living in her child--
I saw a saint among his fellow men--
Brave soldiery before my eyes defiled And solemn-hearted scholars--Sudden thenI cried: "The stars are no less neighborly In their ethereal remoteness swung, Than these near human orbits wherein we Live out our lives and speak our chosen tongue!
"Love seek through all--less there be one Least soul unlit within the night--And over all, the selfsame sun Give each creation light!"
