Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
Humorous Poems: IV. Ingenuities: OdditiesOde to the Human Heart
Laman Blanchard (1803–1845)B
Pursue the triumph and partake the gale!
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees,
To point a moral or adorn a tale.
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears,
Like angels’ visits, few and far between,
Deck the long vista of departed years.
The tenth transmitter of a foolish face,
Like Aaron’s serpent, swallows up the rest,
And makes a sunshine in the shady place.
To waft a feather or to drown a fly,
(In wit a man, simplicity a child,)
With silent finger pointing to the sky.
Far out amid the melancholy main;
As when a vulture on Imaus bred,
Dies of a rose in aromatic pain.