quote · Legacy record
If thou has squander’d years to grave a gem Commission’d by thy absent Lord, and while ’Tis incomplete, Others would bribe thy needy skill to them— Dismiss them to the street! Should’st thou at last discover Beauty’s grove, At last be panting on the fragrant verge, But in the track, Drunk with divine possession, thou meet Love— Turn at her bidding back. When round thy ship in tempest Hell appears, And every spectre mutters up more dire To snatch control And loose to madness thy deep-kennell’d Fears— Then to the helm, O Soul! Last; if upon the cold green-mantling sea Thou cling, alone with Truth, to the last spar, Both castaway, And one must perish—let it not be he Whom thou art sworn to obey!
If thou has squander’d years to grave a gem Commission’d by thy absent Lord, and while ’Tis incomplete, Others would bribe thy needy skill to them— Dismiss them to the street! Should’st thou at last discover Beauty’s grove, At last be panting on the fragrant verge, But in the track, Drunk with divine possession, thou meet Love— Turn at her bidding back. When round thy ship in tempest Hell appears, And every spectre mutters up more dire To snatch control And loose to madness thy deep-kennell’d Fears— Then to the helm, O Soul! Last; if upon the cold green-mantling sea Thou cling, alone with Truth, to the last spar, Both castaway, And one must perish—let it not be he Whom thou art sworn to obey!
In print by 1921 AD · modern
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Herbert Trench (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1921 AD · modern
In print by 1921: recorded in My Commonplace Book (third English edition,1921). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- My Commonplace Book (third English edition,1921) (1921 AD)
Page 82 · printed citation: Herbert Trench (Born 1865). · compiler notes excluded
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.