Humble Greatness

                              I.
O, tell me not thou hast no power to bless!
     Poor, weak or humble, thou hast yet a breast
     Where blameless love can build her downy nest,
And thy large heart its little kindnesses
May shower upon the children of distress,
As the great sky sheds dew; of love possessed
     Thou hast a wealth no robber’s arm can wrest,
A strength which banded foes can make no less,
Well may such greatness scorn the tinsel show
     Of prouder charities whose trumpet voice
Claims praise of man, ad well its silent flow
     With freshness make the desert heart rejoice.
True love, though all-pervading, like the air,
Still breathes unseen its blessings everywhere.

                              II.
What though thy offering seem of little worth?
     It is the heart which magnifies the gift;
     And the one mite, love-lent, will more uplift
The soul of sorrow than the wealth of earth
Bestowed with lavish pride. Deed, small at birth
     Grow mighty and gigantic in the thrift
Of love’s strict training; as, in nature’s state,
The small is ever father of the great.
     A thousand rills rush in the rushing creek,
A hundred brooks have swelled the tameless river,
     And in the billows of the ocean speak
The multitude of waters; thus forever,
From the dim speck to worlds which round us roll,
The infant little sires the infinite whole.

                              III.
Little by little, in the eternal rock,
     The curdling sunbeams form the diamond’s spark;
Little by little summer’s drops unlock
     The rooted avalanche; and the vanquished dark
Flies tiniest rays, that, banded, terror-shock
     Grim midnight, but make glad the morning lark.
So may thy heart, with its perpetual gush
     Of sunny brightness, burse its gem-like love,
     A dower for kingliest bosoms; so remove,
With dewy pity, the cold weights which crush
Lone hearts, and from. Its many rays bid rush
     Their wintry midnight, while their souls once more,
Happy as earth in morning’s earliest blush,
     Like the blithe lark their songs of gladness pour.