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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=530195" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Hermit</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Far in a wild, unknown to public view,<br>From youth to age a rev'rend hermit grew;<br>The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell,<br>His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well:<br>Remote from man, with God he pass'd the days,<br>Pray'r all his bus'ness, all his pleasure praise.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">A life so sacred, such serene repose,<br>Seem'd heav'n itself, till one suggestion rose;<br>That vice should triumph, virtue vice obey,<br>This sprung some doubt of Providence's sway:<br>His hopes no more a certain prospect boast,<br>And all the tenor of his soul is lost.<br>So when a smooth expanse receives imprest<br>Calm nature's image on its wat'ry breast,<br>Down bend the banks, the trees depending grow,<br>And skies beneath with answering colours glow:<br>But if a stone the gentle scene divide,<br>Swift ruffling circles curl on ev'ry side,<br>And glimm'ring fragments of a broken sun,<br>Banks, trees, and skies, in thick disorder run.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">To clear this doubt, to know the world by sight,<br>To find if books, or swains, report it right,<br>(For yet by swains alone the world he knew,<br>Whose feet came wand'ring o'er the nightly dew,)<br>He quits his cell; the pilgrim-staff he bore,<br>And fix'd the scallop in his hat before;<br>Then with the sun a rising journey went,<br>Sedate to think, and watching each event.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The morn was wasted in the pathless grass,<br>And long and lonesome was the wild to pass;<br>But when the southern sun had warm'd the day,<br>A youth came posting o'er a crossing way;<br>His raiment decent, his complexion fair,<br>And soft in graceful ringlets wav'd his hair.<br>Then near approaching, &quot;Father, hail!&quot; he cried;<br>&quot;And hail, my son,&quot; the rev'rend sire replied;<br>Words follow'd words, from question answer flow'd,<br>And talk of various kind deceiv'd the road;<br>Till each with other pleas'd, and loth to part,<br>While in their age they differ, join in heart<br>Thus stands an aged elm in ivy bound,<br>Thus youthful ivy clasps an elm around.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now sunk the sun; the closing hour of day<br>Came onward, mantled o'er with sober gray;<br>Nature in silence bid the world repose;<br>When near the road a stately palace rose:<br>There by the moon through ranks of trees they pass,<br>Whose verdure crown'd their sloping sides of grass.<br>It chanc'd the noble master of the dome<br>Still made his house the wand'ring stranger's home;<br>Yet still the kindness, from a thirst of praise,<br>Prov'd the vain flourish of expensive ease.<br>The pair arrive: the liv'ried servants wait;<br>Their lord receives them at the pompous gate.<br>The table groans with costly piles of food,<br>And all is more than hospitably good.<br>Then led to rest, the day's long toil they drown,<br>Deep sunk in sleep, and silk, and heaps of down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">At length 'tis morn, and at the dawn of day,<br>Along the wide canals the zephyrs play;<br>Fresh o'er the gay parterres the breezes creep,<br>And shake the neighb'ring wood to banish sleep.<br>Up rise the guests, obedient to the call:<br>An early banquet deck'd the splendid hall;<br>Rich luscious wine a golden goblet grac'd,<br>Which the kind master forc'd the guests to taste.<br>Then, pleas'd and thankful, from the porch they go;<br>And, but the landlord, none had cause of woe;<br>His cup was vanish'd; for in secret guise<br>The younger guest purloin'd the glitt'ring prize.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">As one who spies a serpent in his way,<br>Glist'ning and basking in the summer ray,<br>Disorder'd stops to shun the danger near,<br>Then walks with faintness on, and looks with fear;<br>So seem'd the sire; when far upon the road,<br>The shining spoil his wily partner show'd.<br>He stopp'd with silence, walk'd with trembling heart,<br>And much he wish'd, but durst not ask to part:<br>Murmuring he lifts his eyes, and thinks it hard,<br>That gen'rous actions meet a base reward.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">While thus they pass, the sun his glory shrouds,<br>The changing skies hang out their sable clouds;<br>A sound in air presag'd approaching rain,<br>And beasts to covert scud across the plain.<br>Warn'd by the signs, the wand'ring pair retreat,<br>To seek for shelter at a neighb'ring seat.<br>'Twas built with turrets, on a rising ground,<br>And strong, and large, and unimprov'd around;<br>Its owner's temper, tim'rous and severe,<br>Unkind and griping, caus'd a desert there.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">As near the miser's heavy doors they drew,<br>Fierce rising gusts with sudden fury blew;<br>The nimble lightning mix'd with showers began,<br>And o'er their heads loud rolling thunders ran.<br>Here long they knock, but knock or call in vain,<br>Driven by the wind, and batter'd by the rain.<br>At length some pity warm'd the master's breast,<br>('Twas then his threshold first receiv'd a guest,)<br>Slow creaking turns the door with jealous care,<br>And half he welcomes in the shiv'ring pair;<br>One frugal faggot lights the naked walls,<br>And Nature's fervour through their limbs recalls:<br>Bread of the coarsest sort, with eager wine,<br>Each hardly granted, serv'd them both to dine;<br>And when the tempest first appear'd to cease,<br>A ready warning bid them part in peace.<br>With still remark the pond'ring hermit view'd<br>In one so rich, a life so poor and rude;<br>And why should such, within himself he cried,<br>Lock the lost wealth a thousand want beside?<br>But what new marks of wonder soon took place<br>In every settling feature of his face,<br>When from his vest the young companion bore<br>That cup, the gen'rous landlord own'd before,<br>And paid profusely with the precious bowl,<br>The stinted kindness of this churlish soul!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But now the clouds in airy tumult fly;<br>The sun emerging opes an azure sky;<br>A fresher green the smelling leaves display,<br>And glitt'ring as they tremble, cheer the day:<br>The weather courts them from their poor retreat,<br>And the glad master bolts the wary gate.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">While hence they walk, the pilgrim's bosom wrought:<br>Wlth all the travel of uncertain thought;<br>His partner's acts without their cause appear,<br>'Twas there a vice, and seem'd a madness here:<br>Detesting that, and pitying this, he goes,<br>Lost and confounded with the various shows.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now night's dim shades again involve the sky,<br>Again the wanderers want a place to lie,<br>Again they search, and find a lodging nigh:<br>The soil improv'd around, the mansion neat,<br>And neither poorly low, nor idly great:<br>It seem'd to speak its master's turn of mind,<br>Content, and not for praise, but virtue kind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hither the walkers turn with weary feet,<br>Then bless the mansion, and the master greet:<br>Their greeting fair bestow'd, with modest guise,<br>The courteous master hears, and thus replies:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;Without a vain, without a grudging heart,<br>To Him who gives us all, I yield a part;<br>From Him you come, for Him accept it here,<br>A frank and sober, more than costly cheer.&quot;<br>He spoke, and bid the welcome table spread,<br>Then talk'd of virtue till the time of bed,<br>When the grave household round his hall repair,<br>Warn'd by a bell, and close the hours with pray'r.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">At length the world, renew'd by calm repose,<br>Was strong for toil, the dappled morn arose.<br>Before the pilgrims part, the younger crept<br>Near the clos'd cradle where an infant slept,<br>And writh'd his neck: the landlord's little pride,<br>O strange return! grew black, and gasp'd, and died!<br>Horrors of horrors! what! his only son!<br>How look'd our hermit when the fact was done?<br>Not hell, though hell's black jaws in sunder part,<br>And breathe blue fire, could more assault his heart.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Confus'd, and struck with silence at the deed,<br>He flies, but, trembling, fails to fly with speed.<br>His steps the youth pursues: the country lay<br>Perplex'd with roads, a servant show'd the way:<br>A river cross'd the path; the passage o'er<br>Was nice to find; the servant trod before:<br>Long arms of oak an open bridge supplied,<br>And deep the waves beneath the bending glide.<br>The youth, who seem'd to watch a time to sin,<br>Approach'd the careless guide, and thrust him in;<br>Plunging he falls, and rising lifts his head,<br>Then flashing turns, and sinks among the dead.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Wild, sparkling rage inflames the father's eyes,<br>He bursts the bands of fear, and madly cries,<br>&quot;Detested wretch!&quot;--but scarce his speech began,<br>When the strange partner seem'd no longer man:<br>His youthful face grew more serenely sweet;<br>His robe turn'd white, and flow'd upon his feet,<br>Fair rounds of radiant points invest his hair;<br>Celestial odours breathe through purpled air;<br>And wings, whose colours glitter'd on the day,<br>Wide at his back their gradual plumes display.<br>The form ethereal bursts upon his sight,<br>And moves in all the majesty of light.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Though loud at first the pilgrim's passion grew,<br>Sudden he gaz'd, and wist not what to do;<br>Surprise in secret chains his words suspends,<br>And in a calm his settling temper ends.<br>But silence here the beauteous angel broke,<br>(The voice of music ravish'd as he spoke).</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;Thy prayer, thy praise, thy life to vice unknown,<br>In sweet memorial rise before the throne:<br>These charms, success in our bright region find,<br>And force an angel down, to calm thy mind;<br>For this, commission'd, I forsook the sky,<br>Nay, cease to kneel--thy fellow-servant I.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;Then know the truth of government divine,<br>And let these scruples be no longer thine.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;The Maker justly claims that world He made,<br>In this the right of Providence is laid;<br>Its sacred majesty through all depends<br>On using second means to work his ends:<br>'Tis thus, withdrawn in state from human eye,<br>The Pow'r exerts his attributes on high,<br>Your actions uses, nor controls your will,<br>And bids the doubting sons of men be still.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;What strange events can strike with more surprise,<br>Than those which lately struck thy wond'ring eyes?<br>Yet taught by these, confess th' Almighty just,<br>And where you can't unriddle, learn to trust!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;The great vain man, who far'd on costly food,<br>Whose life was too luxurious to be good;<br>Who made his iv'ry stands with goblets shine,<br>And forc'd his guests to morning draughts of wine,<br>Has, with the cup, the graceless custom lost,<br>And still he welcomes, but with less of cost.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;The mean, suspicious wretch, whose bolted door<br>Ne'er mov'd in duty to the wand'ring poor;<br>With him I left the cup, to teach his mind<br>That Heav'n can bless, if mortals will be kind.<br>Conscious of wanting worth, he views the bowl,<br>And feels compassion touch his grateful soul.<br>Thus artists melt the sullen ore of lead,<br>With heaping coals of fire upon its head;<br>In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow,<br>And loose from dross, the silver runs below.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;Long had our pious friend in virtue trod,<br>But now the child half-wean'd his heart from God;<br>(Child of his age) for him he liv'd in pain,<br>And measur'd back his steps to earth again.<br>To what excesses had this dotage run!<br>But God, to save the father, took the son.<br>To all but thee, in fits he seem'd to go,<br>(And 'twas my ministry to deal the blow).<br>The poor fond parent, humbled in the dust,<br>Now owns in tears the punishment was just.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;But how had all his fortune felt a wrack,<br>Had that false servant sped in safety back!<br>This night his treasur'd heaps he meant to steal,<br>And what a fund of charity would fail!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;Thus Heav'n instructs thy mind: this trial o'er,<br>Depart in peace, resign, and sin no more.&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">On sounding pinions here the youth withdrew,<br>The sage stood wondering as the seraph flew.<br>Thus look'd Elisha, when, to mount on high,<br>His master took the chariot of the sky;<br>The fiery pomp ascending left the view;<br>The prophet gaz'd, and wish'd to follow too.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The bending hermit here a prayer begun,<br>&quot;Lord! as in heav'n, on earth thy will be done!&quot;<br>Then gladly turning, sought his ancient place,<br>And pass'd a life of piety and peace.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Thomas+Parnell">Thomas Parnell</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=530195" data-title="The Hermit de Thomas Parnell" data-description="Far in a wild, unknown to public view,
From youth to age a rev'rend hermit grew;
The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell,
His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well:
Remote from man, with God he pass'd the days,
Pray'r all his bus'ness, al..."></div>
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