The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 3.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

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Vii.

As on the White Sea's charmed shore,
     The Parsee sees his holy hill¹
With dunnest smoke-clouds curtained o'er,
     Yet knows beneath them, evermore,
The low, pale fire is quivering still;
     So, underneath its clouds of sin,
The heart of man retaineth yet
     Gleams of its holy origin;
And half-quenched stars that never set,
     Dim colors of its faded bow,
And early beauty, linger there,
     And o'er its wasted desert blow
Faint breathings of its morning air.
     Oh, never yet upon the scroll
Of the sin-stained, but priceless soul,
     Hath Heaven inscribed ‘ Despair!’
Cast not the clouded gem away,
     Quench not the dim but living ray,—
My brother man, Beware!
     With that deep voice which from the skies [289]
Forbade the Patriarch's sacrifice,
     God's angel cries, Forbear!

1843.