Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 2.djvu/33

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What tho' affliction be my portion here,Think'st thou I do not feel high thoughts of joy.Of heart-ennobling joy, when I look backUpon a life of duty well perform'd,Then lift mine eyes to Heaven, and there in faithKnow my reward? I grant, were this life all,Was there no morning to the tomb's long night,If man did mingle with the senseless clod,Himself as senseless, then wert thou indeedA wise and friendly comforter! But, Fiend!There is a morning to the tomb's long night,A dawn of glory, a reward in Heaven,He shall not gain who never merited.If thou didst know the worth of one good deedIn life's last hour, thou would'st not bid me loseThe power to benefit; if I but saveA drowning fly, I shall not live in vain.I have great duties, Fiend! me France expects,Her heaven-doom'd Champion.""Maiden, thou hast done
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