Poetry > Course of time

BOOK NINTH.
283
Or, trading, saw the wonders of the deep,
And as the needle to the starry pole
Turned constantly, so he his heart to God;
Or else, in servitude severe, was taught
To break the bonds of sin ; or, begging, learned
To trust the Providence that fed the raven,
And clothed the lily with her annual gown.
Most numerous, indeed, among the saved,
And many, too, not least illustrious, shone
The men who had no name on earth. Eclipsed
By lowly circumstance, they lived unknown ;
Like stream that in the desert warbles clear,
Still nursing, as it goes, the herb and flower,
Though never seen; or like the star, retired
In solitudes of ether, far beyond
All sight, not of essential splendour less,
Though shining unobserved. None saw their pure
Devotion, none their tears, their faith, and love,
Which burned within them, both to God and man—
None saw but God : He, in His bottle, all
Their tears preserved, and every holy wish
Wrote in His Book ; and, not as they had done,
But as they wished, with all their heart, to do,
Arrayed them now in glory, and displayed—
No longer hid by coarse uncourtly garb—
In lustre equal to their inward worth.
Man’s time was past, and his eternity
Begun : no fear remained of change. The youth,