Faith Against Sight
“As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be also in the day of the Son of Man.”
The world has cycles in its course, when all
That once has been, is acted o’er again:—
Not by some fated law, which need appal
Our faith, or binds our deeds as with a chain;
But by men’s separate sins, which blended still
The same bad round fulfil.
Then fear ye not, though Gallio’s scorn ye see,
And soft-clad nobles count you mad, true hearts!
These are the fig-tree’s signs;—rough deeds must be,
Trials and crimes: so learn ye well your parts.
Once more to plough the earth it is decreed,
And scatter wide the seed.
Off Sardinia. June 18, 1833.