POETRY.

Marlborough Press, Volume XIII, Issue 832, 25 December 1872, Page 4

POETRY.

WHAT I LIVE FOR. [The following short poem has been claimed to have been written by as many would-be authors as there are lines in the verses. It is now becoming rather hackneyed through being ascribed to so m&py writers, but nothing can detract from the flow of"melody in the words and the lesson they inculcated V ’We believe the poem first appeared. some ten years ago, in the Sixpenny Magazine; but about twelve months since it was given as an original piece, under the signature of L. Thornton, in the Family Herald ; the real author being G. Linnaeus Banks :—1 I live for those who love me, Whose hearts are kind and true ; For the heaven that smiles above me, And awaits my spirit too ; For all human ties that bind me, For the task by God assigned me, For the hope that beams within me, And the good that I can do. I live to learn their story, Who’ve suffered for my sake ; To emulate their glory, And follow in their wake ; Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages, The noble of all ages, Whose deeds crown History’s pages. And Time’s great volume muke. I live to hold communion With all that is divine ; To feel there is a union ’Twixt Nature’s heart and mine ; To profit by affliction, Reap truth from fields of fiction, Grow wiser from conviction, And fulfil each grand design. I live to hail that season, By gifted minds foretold, ’ When men shall live by reason, And not alone by gold ; When man to man united. And every wrong thing righted, The world shall be united As Eden was of old. I live for those who love me— For those who know me true ; For the heaven that smiles above me, And awaits my spirit too ; For the cause that lacks assistance, _ For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance,! And the good that I can do.