Life's Experience

To me in early time they came
     A vision of a lofty good ;
It stirr'd me with ambition's aim,
     And sent a fire along the blood !

I spurn'd beneath my feet as dross
     Whate'er seem'd alien to my dream,
And wealth and ease I counted loss,
     To reach the height I deem'd supreme.

I felt that life was nothing worth,
     Should that ideal fade away ;
I gladly then would sink to earth,
    And see no more the light of day.

With high resolve I kept in view
     The star that on my pathway shone ;
My life had now begun anew,
     I saw that glory must be WON !

Aroused, I bade farewell to rest,
     By Hope's enthusiasm urged ;
I panted to begin my quest ;
     Unwonted feelings in me surged.

At length I found me on the way,
     With youth's elastic spring upborne,
The fulness of existence lay
     Before me in that golden dawn.

Responsive rang the hills with glee,
     The waters danced and flash'd along,
Melodious birds in wood and lea
      Burst into sympathetic song.

What energy divine for Truth !
     What glow of purpose for the Right !
All to my aim I bent in sooth,
     And for a season all was bright.

But most with whom I ran lost strength,
     Or one by one they pass'd from earth ;
And grim reality at length,
     Confronted all I thought of worth.

I saw that glory sat enthroned
     On brows unworthy of regard,
While souls of finest mould, disown'd,
     Were rudely thrust aside and barr'd.

Love's fairest visions too declined,
     And died in sighs of fond regret---
The strife became constrained, confined,
     The fires burn'd low, the glory set.

Thus gained I food for sober thought,
     Which led the way for Wisdom's call ;
The outer world appeared but naught,
     The inward was the All in All.

I still felt certain that the man
     Who's true to his ideal aim---
Defeated be, he never can :
     He, as the heir, may all things claim.

And though unto the vulgar gaze
     His course has made no stir or din,
He's reaped the harvest of his days---
     A ripe eternity within.

Written by
The Rev. John H. Robison