The Flight of Peace

Charles Harpur 1813 (Windsor) – 1868 (Australia)



TRUST and Treachery, Wisdom, Folly,
Madness, Mirth and Melancholy,
Love and Hatred, Thrift and Pillage,
All are housed in one small village.

And if such be Life’s mix’d being,
Where may Peace from ruin fleeing,
Find a shelter and inherit
All the calm of her own merit?

In a bark of gentle motion
Sailing on the summer ocean?
There worst war the tempest wages
And the whirlpool’s hunger rages.

In some lonely new-world bower,
Hidden like a forest flower?
There too, there, to irk the stranger,
Stalks the wild-eyed spirit Danger!

Vainly would she build by roving
Or in hoping or in loving,
Or in solitary spaces,
Having in all times and places,
Or in none a home of beauty
In the fearless heart of Duty,
Dwelling there and seeing
God’s right hand all things decreeing.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

41 sec read
42

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAXX BBCC DDEX FFFF BBEEAABB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 760
Words 138
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 8

Charles Harpur

Charles Harpur was an Australian poet. more…

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