To be a glimpse of summer sent
Into the bleak hearts of the poor;
To make God's sunshine evident,

By opening Eden's humble door

To souls where darkness reigned before;

To make this cloudy life a part

Of the eternal grace beyond;

To forge the vague dreams of the heart

Into a mighty sceptre-wand

Methinks a life thus spent should rear

A monument in Fate's despite,

Whose epitaph would grow more clear

As Truth's sun rose and scattered light,

Full and more full, from Heaven's glad height.

Let it be graven on my tomb :

"He came and left more smiles behind,

One ray he shot athwart the gloom,

He helped one fetter to unbind,

Men think of him and grow more kind."

1844.

HUNGER AND COLD.

SISTERS two, all praise to you,
With your faces pinched and blue;
To the poor man you 've been true

From of old :

You can speak the keenest word,

You are sure of being heard,

From the point you 're never stirred, Hunger and Cold!

Let sleek statesmen temporize;

Palsied are their shifts and lies

When they meet your bloodshot eyes,

Grim and bold;

Policy you set at naught,

In their traps you'll not be caught,

You're too honest to be bought,

Hunger and Cold!

Bolt and bar the palace-door;

While the mass of men are poor,

Naked truth grows more and more

Uncontrolled;

You had never yet, I guess,

Any praise for bashfulness,

You can visit sans court-dress,

Hunger and Cold!

While the music fell and rose,
And the dance reeled to its close,

Where her round of costly woes

Fashion strolled,

I beheld with shuddering fear

Wolves' eyes through the windows peer;

Little dream they you are near,

Hunger and Cold!

When the toiler's heart you clutch,

Conscience is not valued much,

He recks not a bloody smutch

On his gold:

Every thing to you defers,

You are potent reasoners,

At your whisper Treason stirs,
Hunger and Cold!

Rude comparisons you draw,

Words refuse to sate your maw,

Your gaunt limbs the cobweb law

Cannot hold:

You 're not clogged with foolish pride,

But can seize a right denied;

Somehow God is on your side,
Hunger and Cold!

You respect no hoary wrong
More for having triumphed long;
Its past victims, haggard throng,

From the mould

You unbury: swords and spears

Weaker are than poor men's tears,

Weaker than your silent years,
Hunger and Cold!

Let them guard both hall and bower; Through the window you will glower, Patient till your reckoning hour

Shall be tolled:

Cheeks are pale, but hands are red, Guiltless blood may chance be shed,

God has plans man must not spoil,
Some were made to starve and toil,

Some to share the wine and oil,

We are told:

Devil's theories are these,

Stifling hope and love and peace,

Framed your hideous lusts to please,

Hunger and Cold!