THE world forsaken, all its busy cares And stirring interests shunned with desperate flight, All trust abandoned in the healing might Of virtuous action; all that courage dares, Labour accomplishes, or patience bears-- Those helps rejected, they, whose minds perceive How subtly works man's weakness, sighs may heave For such a One beset with cloistral snares. Father of Mercy! rectify his view, If with his vows this object ill agree; 10 Shed over it thy grace, and thus subdue Imperious passion in a heart set free:-- That earthly love may to herself be true, Give him a soul that cleaveth unto thee.
