Richard Chenevix Trench (1807 – 1886)
Irish poet, and the Anglican archbishop of Dublin.
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As shadows attend substances, so words follow upon things.
None but God can satisfy the longings of an immortal soul; that as the heart was made for Him, so He only can fill it.
It was Lazarus faith, not his poverty, which brought him into Abraham's bosom.
Not all who seem to fail have failed indeed,
Not all who fail have therefor worked in vain.
There is no failure for the good and brave.
Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident,
It is the very place God meant for thee;
And should'st thou there small room for action see,
Do not for this give room for discontent.
Oh seize the instant time; you never will
With waters once passed by impel the mill.
What question can be here? Your own true heart
Must needs advise you of the only part:
That may be claim'd again which was but lent,
And should be yielded with no discontent,
Nor surely can we find herein a wrong,
That it was left us to enjoy it long.
We kneel, how weak; we rise, how full of power!
Why, therefore, should we do ourselves this wrong,
Or others — that we are not always strong,
That we are ever overborne with care,
That we should ever weak or heartless be,
Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer,
And joy and strength and courage are with Thee?
We live not in our moments or our years:
The present we fling from us like the rind
Of some sweet future, which we after find
Bitter to taste.
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