Poems (Jordan)/Eloquence
ELOQUENCE
A mighty mind seeks vainly to express,
Until Imagination broods o'er words,
And, with the vital warmth of tenderness,
Doth hatch from Reason's eggs bright-plumaged birds.
Until Imagination broods o'er words,
And, with the vital warmth of tenderness,
Doth hatch from Reason's eggs bright-plumaged birds.
Forth of the heart, through Feeling most intense,
Come words nude, but of Nature's purity,
And that alone, methinks, is eloquence
Which doth appear thus unselfconsciously.
Come words nude, but of Nature's purity,
And that alone, methinks, is eloquence
Which doth appear thus unselfconsciously.
The homely, love-warm word of cheer or praise
To hungry, struggling lives, must e'er eclipse
Indiff'rence, though coffined in finest phrase,
For 'tis the Bible—clasped with human lips!
To hungry, struggling lives, must e'er eclipse
Indiff'rence, though coffined in finest phrase,
For 'tis the Bible—clasped with human lips!