Abraham Coles

“O loving woman, man’s fulfillment, sweet,Completing him not otherwise complete!How void and useless the sad remnant leftWere he of her, his nobler part, bereft.”

“O beautiful and grand,My own, my native land!Of thee I boast:Great empire of the west,The dearest and the best,Made up of all the rest,I love thee most.”

“None of the prophets old,So lofty or so bold!No form of danger shakes his dauntless breast;In loneliness sublimeHe dares confront the time,And speak the truth, and give the world no rest:No kingly threat can cowardize his breath,He with majestic step goes forth to meet his death.”

“I value science—none can prize it more,It gives ten thousand motives to adore:Be it religious, as it ought to be,The heart it humbles, and it bows the knee.”

“Fling out, fling out, with cheer and shout,To all the winds Our Country’s Banner!Be every bar, and every star,Displayed in full and glorious manner!Blow, zephyrs, blow, keep the dear ensign flying!Blow, zephyrs, sweetly mournful, sighing, sighing, sighing!”

“Eternity! How know we but we standOn the precipitous and crumbling vergeOf Time e’en now, Eternity below?”

“Contending Passions jostle and displaceAnd tilt and tourney mostly in the Face;* * * * *Unmatched by Art, upon this wondrous scrollPortrayed are all the secrets of the soul.”