IX.
Reading edition
Drowning is not so pitiful As the attempt to rise. Three times, 't is said, a sinking man Comes up to face the skies, And then declines forever To that abhorred abode Where hope and he part company, — For he is grasped of God. The Maker's cordial visage, However good to see, Is shunned, we must admit it, Like an adversity.