442                         POETS





                          VII.
                        POETS.

             "They learn in suffering, what they teach in song.'

              GENIUS seems to be something which
              requires from its possessor the great-
              est possible sacrifice.    It is a gift
              which nature bestows upon her chil-
              dren,and when she does, she fre-
              quently  withdraws  all other  bless
              ings.  The  heart endowed  with this
inestimable treasure, must too often beat to the measure
of  sadness; and the spirit lighted by this divine fire,
must too often bend to the burden of  woe.    Of the many
brilliant characters, who,  have have  illumined
the world, few have tasted the  real sweets, of existence,
or known the enjoyment commonly out to hum-
bler individuals.     'Tis true, genius creates a world of its
own, where it reigns  and rule with  unlimited power,
but the heart is so constituted that fairy pleasures of
this ideal will not  long satisy its cravings.       For a time
it may  roam in  the  regions of fancy and revel in de-
lights of imagination, but will returned from  its wander-
ings, like a wearied  bird from a long flight, and seek a
repose in the resting-place of  earth
  The greatest minds that call exist are but a "mixed
essence"--half dust, half Deity.   Sometimes guided and
governed by the diviner portion of their nature, they




			

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 14, Num. 4

Poets

B.

Volume:  14
Issue Number:  04
Page Number:  442
Date:  04/1898