Poems (Shore)/Fragment
For works with similar titles, see Fragment.
FRAGMENT
Lift thy head, despairing Creature!
Passion's shipwrecked castaway;
Reverently will pitying Nature
Watch thy solitary way.
Passion's shipwrecked castaway;
Reverently will pitying Nature
Watch thy solitary way.
True, there's no one can restore thee,
Out of Ocean's waste forlorn,
That one fairy bark that bore thee
From the country of the morn.
Out of Ocean's waste forlorn,
That one fairy bark that bore thee
From the country of the morn.
Through the dark and dreadful waters
Let the scattered fragments go;
Passion pitilessly shatters
Many as brave a vessel so.
Let the scattered fragments go;
Passion pitilessly shatters
Many as brave a vessel so.
True it is, the priceless treasures
Of thine early hopes are lost;
Many a golden freight as precious
To the greedy gulf is tost.
Of thine early hopes are lost;
Many a golden freight as precious
To the greedy gulf is tost.
True, the land whence thou art sundered
Was a land of lovely things;
Round the paths where thou hast wandered
Many a happy wild bird sings.
Was a land of lovely things;
Round the paths where thou hast wandered
Many a happy wild bird sings.
Try another venture yet,
Other lands and other skies;
Load a stronger ship with freight
Of a nobler merchandise.
Other lands and other skies;
Load a stronger ship with freight
Of a nobler merchandise.
And the eager toil and strife,
In the crowd of fellow-men,
To a glowing love of life
Shall brace up thy hopes again.
In the crowd of fellow-men,
To a glowing love of life
Shall brace up thy hopes again.
1844.