The Words Of Wisdom. from Proverbial Philosophy
By Martin Farquhar Tupper
Few and precious are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter:
To what shall then' rarity be likened? What price shall count their worth?
Perfect and much to be desired, and giving joy with riches.
No lovely tiling on earth can picture all their beauty.
They be chance pearls, flung among the rocks by the sullen waters of Oblivion,
Which Diligence loveth to gather, and hang around the neck of Memory;
They be white-winged seeds of happiness, wafted from the islands of the blessed.
Which Thought carefully tendeth, in the kindly garden of the heart;
They be sproutings of an harvest for eternity, bursting through the tilth of time,
Green promise of the golden wheat, that yieldeth angels' food;
They be drops of the crystal dew, which the wings of seraphs scatter,
When on some brighter sabbath, their plumes quiver most with delight:
Such, and so precious, are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter.
Yet more, for the half is not said, of their might, and dignity, and value;
For life-giving be they and glorious, redolent of sanctity and heaven:
As the fumes of hallowed incense, that veil the throne of the Most High;
As the beaded bubbles that sparkle on the rim of the cup of immortality;
As wreaths of the rainbow spray, from the pure cataracts of truth:
Such, and so precious, are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter.
Yet once again, loving student, suffer the praises of thy teacher,
For verily the sun of the mind, and the life of the heart is Wisdom:
She is pure and full of light, crowning grey hairs with lustre,
And kindling the eye of youth with a fire not its own;
And her words, whereunto canst thou liken them? for earth cannot show their peers:
They be grains of the diamond sand, the radiant floor of heaven,
Bistng in sunny dust beliind the chai*iot of God;
They be flashes of the day-spring from on high, shed from the windows of the skies;
They be streams of living waters, fresh from the fountain of Intelligence:
Such, and so precious, are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter.
For these shall guide thee well, and guard thee on thy way;
And wanting all beside, with these shalt thou be rich:
Though all around be woe, these shall make thee happy;
Though all within be pain, these shall bring thee health;
Thy good shall grow into ripeness, thine evil wither and decay.
And Wisdom's words shall sweetly charm thy doubtful into virtues:
Meanness shall then be frugal care; where shame was, thou art modest;
Cowardice riseth into caution, rasliness is sobered into courage;
The wrathful spirit, rendering a reason, standeth justified in anger;
The idle hand hath fair excuse, propping the thoughtful forehead.
Life shall have no labyrinth but thy steps can track it,
For thou hast a silken clue, to lead thee through the darkness:
The rampant Minotaur of ignorance shall perish at thy coming,
And thine enfranchised fellows hail thy white victorious sails.
Wherefore, friend and scholar, hear the words of Wisdom;
Whether she speaketh to thy soul in the full chords of revelation;
In the teaching earth, or air, or sea; in the still melodies of thought;
Or, haply, in the humbler strains that would detain thee here.
Transcribed from Proverbial Philosophy by Mick Puttock (Spelling, punctuation and grammer left mostly unchanged from the 25th edition)