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Page:Poems - Richard S Chilton (1885).djvu/67

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GENIUS.
61

GENIUS.

A great soul never yet was turned asideFrom its true purpose: hatred and mistrust—The portion of the Meek One crucified—Are in Faith's golden balance but as dust.Contempt and scorn are to the wise and justBut arrows shot into the woundless air.Genius finds safety in its own disgustAt all earth's vileness; happy but to shareThe scanty raiment, and the coarse hard fare,With which the vain world clothes and feeds its great;And from its eagle-eyrie on the bareBleak rock, high up above the storms of Fate,It mounts in the pure air, and takes its wayRight onward to the golden gates of day!