Take courage, prisoner of time, for there be many comforts, Cease thy labour in the pit, and bask awhile with truants in the sun; Be cheerful, man of care, for great is the multitude of chances, Burst thy fetters of anxiety, and walk among the citizens of ease: Wherefore dost thou doubt? if present good is round thee, It may be well to look for change, but to trust in a continuance is better; Whilst, at the crisis of adversity, to hope for some amends were wisdom, And cheerfully to bear thy cross in patient strength is duty. I speak of common troubles, and the petty plagues of life, The phantom-spies of Unbelief, that lurk about his outposts: Sharp suspicion, dull distrust, and sullen stern moroseness Are captains in that locust swarm to lead the cloudy host. Thou hast need of fortitude and faith, for the adversaries come on thickly, And he that fled hath added wings to his pursuing foes; Fight them, and the cravens flee; thy boldness is their panic; Fear them, and thy treacherous heart hath lent the ranks a legion: Among their shouts of victory resoundeth the wail of Heraclitus, While Democrite, confident and cheerful, hath plucked up the standard of their camp. Not few nor light are the burdens of life; then load it not with heaviness of spirit; Sicknesses, and penury, and travail,--there be real ills enow: We are wandering benighted, with a waning moon; plunge not rashly into jungles, Where cold and poisonous damps will quench the torch of hope: The tide is strong against us; good oarsmen, pull or perish,-- If your arms be slack for fear, ye shall not stem the torrent. A wise traveller goeth on cheerily, through fair weather or foul; He knoweth that his journey must be sped, so he carrieth his sunshine with him. Calamities come not as a curse,--nor prosperity for other than a trial; Struggle,--thou art better for the strife, and the very energy shall hearten thee. Good is taught in a Spartan school,--hard lessons and a rough discipline; But evil cometh idly of itself, in the luxury of Capuan holidays: And Wisdom will go bravely forth to meet the chastening scourge, Enduring with a thankful heart that punishment of Love. There be three chief rivers of despondency: sin, sorrow, fear; Sin is the deepest, sorrow hath its shallows, and fear is a noisy rapid: But even to the darkest holes in guilt's profoundest river Hope can pierce with quickening ray, and all those depths are lightened. So long as there is mercy in a God, hope is the privilege of creatures, And so soon as there is penitence in creatures, that hope is exalted into duty. Verily, consider this for courage; that the fearful and the unbelieving Are classed with idolaters and liars, because they trusted not in God: For it is none other than selfish sin, a hard and proud ingratitude, Where seeming repentance is herald of despair, instead of hope's forerunner.