'Mine be the strength of spirit'

POEMS OF MDCCCXXXIII

Reprinted without any alteration, except that Power is spelt with a small p, among the _Juvenilia_ in 1871 and onward.

  Mine be the strength of spirit, full and free,
  Like some broad river rushing down alone,
  With the selfsame impulse wherewith he was thrown
  From his loud fount upon the echoing lea:--
  Which with increasing might doth forward flee
  By town, and tower, and hill, and cape, and isle,
  And in the middle of the green salt sea
  Keeps his blue waters fresh for many a mile.
  Mine be the Power which ever to its sway
  Will win the wise at once, and by degrees
  May into uncongenial spirits flow;
  Even as the great gulfstream of Florida
  Floats far away into the Northern Seas
  The lavish growths of Southern Mexico.