BE BRAVE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2200, 30 April 1896, Page 41

BE BRAVE.

*oh, friend, be brave and strong of heaii, T«itb, hope, and love upon thee call, "The why and wherefore of the part xhey bid thee take pause not to know I Xnough that thou art here below Cod's almoner, if thou wilt be ; ■Then let His purpose shine thro" thee, A glory and a light to all, i&ud date, nor fear that thou shalt fall. jßareto be brave— brave in the right *Tho* all the world should counsel wrong I tSvolve from thine own conscious might The will to Buffer and to do, Atia keep eternally hi view The golden height thou wouldst essay n>u re ? on " >a * "broader, ampler d*y, J_ne tbrme of atory and of. songYea, dare to seek it and be strongl {tocfe gxeat creative act, thou art Suited by His favour. Though Restriction circumscribes thy part And spans thy day, still thine the pow'r, Or great or small, the present hour £n heaven's high mission to employ, And speed as harbinger of joy 3*o "hapless hearts tbat grieve and grow more hapless daily in their woe. Didst thou but know how in that night 'Where sin colleagues -with crime and pain ffhe joyless yearn for the light, .And cry from out the darkness there in all the misery of despair, 'Their shrivelled hands upraised to Aovf The shackles waiting for tho blow, Not lopg wouldet thou thy might restrain! .Not loi.g 6h«uld they *ppe»l in vain I <W mother earth is kind and good, 3Kor lacks she what her children need. Lo I plouty points its amplitude In hoarded wealth and teeming soil. - And ob, just God 1 that those who toil And theirs should vent this bitter 1 cry, That they should hunger, starve, and die, .With none to succour, none to heed, The rictima of despair and greed 1 Then cast away the nselesasigh, Eschew the thought that will not save, And to thy beings mission high JBe ever true in heart and soul — Yea, as the needle to the pole ? "Nor deem it heaven's almighty will That man, thy brother, heie sh uld nil A helot's place, a pauper's graye — Oh, friend, arise thee and be brave ! —P. E. NOLAH.

South Dunedin, April 1806.