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| THE UPRIGHT MAN, he goes his way, | |
| He holds his God-marked brow erect, | |
| His where-abouts are like the day, | |
| Suspecting none, none him suspect. | |
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| He wears his arm upon his sleeve, | 5 |
| Though spiteful daws may peck at will, | |
| And, though his fellow-men aggrieve, | |
| His heart of good they cannot kill. | |
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| He loves and pities them, in spite | |
| Of all the ill they cause him too, | 10 |
| Their loss, he knows, is infinite, | |
| Better to suffer wrong than do! | |
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| He scorns to hide his thoughts, for ’tis | |
| His glory to be free at heart, | |
| And if his tongue were tied, he’d miss | 15 |
| His freedom, or its better part. | |
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| He scorns to do, too, i’ the dark | |
| What he should do in all men’s sight; | |
| This is of Freedom, the true ark, | |
| The real Palladium of Right. | 20 |
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| He sees not in the ballot-box | |
| The hope and freedom of a State, | |
| But in Truth, Peace, and Justice, rocks, | |
| Pillars, on which to lean its weight. | |
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| He does as he would be done by, | 25 |
| And covets not another’s good, | |
| But with it gladdens heart and eye, | |
| And would increase it if he could. | |
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| He does increase it truly too, | |
| And swells the general sum of bliss, | 30 |
| As through the moon, though hid from view | |
| By other worlds, the sun lights this! | |
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| He yields obedience e’en where | |
| The law is not as it should be, | |
| For violence doth Peace impair, | 35 |
| Who brings, at last, all to agree. | |
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| Yet must he speak against the wrong, | |
| Aye, though he suffer, he must speak, | |
| For Truth is stronger than the strong, | |
| And mightiest often in the weak. | 40 |
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| And thoughts, high thoughts, like angels are, | |
| And work unseen their work of grace, | |
| Conveying their ministries afar, | |
| When nearer home they leave no trace! | |
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| And oft when fall’n on evil days | 45 |
| Freedom awhile seems lost to Man, | |
| One witness may again upraise, | |
| And many end what one began. | |
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| He labours not for some poor end, | |
| In darkling mole-ways of his own, | 50 |
| But with Mankind doth onward wend, | |
| And his Good doth to its postpone. | |
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| Or, rather, they have one same Good, | |
| And that which makes Mankind more wise | |
| And happy, doth the one include, | 55 |
| And all his blessings multiplies. | |
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| He would take shame to think, that he, | |
| The labours of Man’s hand and thought, | |
| So largely shared, without a plea, | |
| Contributing thereunto nought. | 60 |
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| Past ages both and present make | |
| The goodly sum of each Man’s bliss, | |
| And he who adds most, more doth take, | |
| And little truly can call his! | |
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| A nation builds him palaces, | 65 |
| With Art and Nature’s wonders filled, | |
| And bridges, as he goes, his ways | |
| Prepare, just where he would have willed! | |
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| And vessels wait, to bear him o’er | |
| The sea, as made for him alone, | 70 |
| He steps on board, and thinks no more | |
| About it, till his voyage is done! | |
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| Sages, for him, great Nature’s laws | |
| Explore, and bring her to the light | |
| He may know all that is or was, | 75 |
| A Being all-but infinite. | |
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| For him the greatest poets sing, | |
| As if they sang for him alone, | |
| And music from the heavens bring | |
| For every fireside some tone! | 80 |
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| Ungrateful were he then indeed, | |
| If deeply he took not to heart | |
| The want of Man, and bade God-speed | |
| To all, and took in all a part. | |
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| So goes the upright man his way | 85 |
| One with mankind, not of a sect, | |
| His goings open as the day | |
| His actions, like the light, direct! | |
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