I shall never worthy be to step into Eternity.
Where I would walk in Spirit--and behold,
'Our elements resolved to things untold.
A sense o'er all my soul impressed,
that I am weak, yet not unblessed.
But thy soul or this world must fade,
in the frost that binds the dead.
Soft tears of fond regret reveal its smart,
and sorrow, restless sorrow, chills my heart.
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
the spirit of self-sacrifice.
Vows of my slavery, my giving up,
my sudden adoration, my Great Love.
Heaven notes the sigh afflicted goodness heaves.
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Can I suffice for Heaven and not for earth?
This poem though I would gladly take its credit, is not my own but instead a Cento or patchwork of lines from poems of other great poets. I wished to bring to light the beauty of words that came before us, our great muses the ones we admire and strive to follow and perhaps one day overcome. They are all from the romantic era I pray that their words pierce you the way they have pierced the centuries and will continue to do so through our overflowing inkwells. May your quills never run dry, nor your pages remain blank. In your service, BDH.
The poets used and the poems from which I derived the lines are in order of the poem and are as follows:
"Broken Love" by William Blake
"A Fragment" by Lord Byron
"The Pains of Sleep" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
"Remorse" by Percy Bysshe Shelley
"Absence" by Mary Darby Robinson
"Ode to Duty" by William Wordsworth
"Asleep! O' Sleep a little while, White Pearl ! " by John Keats
"Humble and Unnoticed Virtue" by Hannah More
"Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe
"Consolation" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning