A GRAND OLD POEM.
Who shall judge a man from manners ? Who shall know him by his dress ? Paupers may be fit for princes, Princes fit for something less; Crumpled shirt and dirty jacket May beclothe the golden ore Of the deepest thought and feelingSatin vests could do no more. There are springs of crystal nectar Ever welling out of stone ; There are purple buds and golden Hidden, crushed, and overgrown ; God, who counts by souls, not dresses, Loves and prospers you and me, While he values souls the highest But as pebbles iu the sea. Man, upraised above his fellows, Oft forgets his fellows then: Masters, rulers, lords, remember That your meanest hinds are men ; Men by honor, men by feeling, Men by thought and men by fame ; Claiming equal rights to sunshine In a man's ennobling name. There are foam-embroidered oceans, There are little weed-clad rills; There are feeble inch-high saplings, There are cedars on the hills ; God who counts by souls, not stations, Loves and prospers you and me, For to him all famed distinctions Are as pebbles in the sea. Toiling hands alone are builders Of a nation's wealth or fame: Titled laziness is pensioned, Fed and fattened on the same; By the sweat of others' foreheads Living only to rejoice, While tne poor man's outraged freedom Vainly lif teth up its voice. Truth and justice are eternal, Born with loveliness and light; Secret wrongs shall never prosper While there is a sunny right: God, whose world-heard voice is singing Boundless love to you and me, Sinks oppression, with its titles, As the pebbles in the sea.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBT18741027.2.2
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1623, 27 October 1874, Page 405
Word count
Tapeke kupu
271A GRAND OLD POEM. Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1623, 27 October 1874, Page 405
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in