Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810 – 1880)
English writer, and poet, and the author of Proverbial Philosophy.
Tell me, ye that strive in vain to cramp and dwarf the soul,
Wherefore should it cease to be, and when shall essence die?
If the mind is wearied by study, or the body worn with sickness,
It is well to lie fallow for a while, in the vacancy of sheer amusement ;
But when thou prosprest in health, and thine intellect can soar untired,
To seek uninstructive pleasure is to slumber on the couch of indolence.
"Let byegones be byegones," — they foolishly say,
And bid me be wise and forget them;
But old recollections are active to-day,
And I can do nought but regret them.
The dews of Hermon rest upon thee now,
Fair saint and martyr! and yet once again
Faith, hope and charity, like gracious rain,
Fall on thy consecrated virgin brow.
Never give up! it is wiser and better
Always to hope, than once to despair.
Fling off the load of Doubt's cankering fetter,
And break the dark spell of tyrannical care.
Away with false fashion, so calm and so chill,
Where pleasure itself cannot please;
Away with cold breeding, that faithlessly still
Affects to be quite at its ease;
For the deepest in feeling is highest in rank,
The freest is first of the band,
Nature's own Nobleman, friendly and frank,
Is a man with his heart in his hand!