John Townsend Trowbridge (1827 – 1916)
Popular American author born in Ogden, New York to Windsor Stone Trowbridge and Rebecca Willey.
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The all-enclosing freehold of Content.
Darius was clearly of the opinion
That the air is also man’s dominion,
And that, with paddle or fin or pinion,
We soon or late
Shall navigate
The azure, as now we sail the sea.
I keep some portion of my early gleam;
Brokenly bright, like moonbeams on a river,
It lights my life, a far illusive dream,
Moves as I move, and leads me on forever.
For me the diamond dawns are set
In rings of beauty,
And all my ways are dewy wet
With pleasant duty.
Not in rewards, but in the strength to strive,
The blessing lies.
Men are polished, through act and speech,
Each by each,
As pebbles are smoothed on the rolling beach.
Our days, our deeds, all we achieve or are,
Lay folded in our infancy; the things
Of good or ill we choose while yet unborn.
Of nothing comes nothing: springs rise not above
Their source in the far-hidden heart of the mountains:
Whence then have descended the Wisdom and Love
That in man leap to light in intelligent fountains?
With years a richer life begins,
The spirit mellows:
Ripe age gives tone to violins,
Wine, and good fellows.
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