SOLITUDE.
Reading edition
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BY ELIZABETH OAKES SMITH.
———
Oh! what a solitude doth mind create!
A solitude of deep and holy thought—
Alone with that Ideal good and great,
Which never yet companionship hath sought;
E’en as the eagle, when he highest soars,
Leaves the dim earth and shadows all behind—
Alone, the thunder-cloud around him roars,
And the reft pinion flutters in the wind—
Alone, he soars where higher regions sleep,
And the calm ether knows nor storm nor cloud—
And thus the soul its heavenward way must keep,
Despite the tempest raging long and loud;
Alone, to God bear up its earthly weight
Of human hope and fear, nor feel all desolate.