Anne Whitney

1821-1915

 

Continence

by Anne Whitney

I pledge you in a cup not overbrimming.
Though heirs to all, God knows our weak hearts best,
And tempts us gently from our downy nest,
To the wide air. Yon fresh horizon, dimming,
And tempering to our thought, the abysses gleaming
Beyond; eternity's severe, pure light
Soft prismed by time; and love, the infinite,
Through human founts intelligibly streaming,
Teach us that heaven withholdeth but to fill:
Grasping thou would'st lose all. Wait then and see,
In the old press of duty steadfast still,
How comes the unexpected god to thee;
How the wild Future, that now mocks thy clasp,
Lies trembling in the Present's nervous grasp.

Source:

Poems
Copyright 1859
346 & 348 Broadway
D. Appleton & Company
New York
 

Recommended Works

To George Sand: A Recognition - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Sitting Down To Read King Lear Once Again. - John KeatsPast And Future - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningNight - Anne WhitneyAnd for that thou art Beauty, and thy name... - Anne WhitneyComfort (Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet ...) - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Leaving Some Friends At An Early Hour - John KeatsOn The Grasshopper And Cricket - John KeatsWhy did I laugh to-night? - John KeatsThe Soul's Expression - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThree Flowers - Thomas Bailey AldrichO Mankind's God! most silent and most lowly - Anne WhitneyO solitude! if I must with thee dwell, - John KeatsHow bravely Autumn paints upon the sky - Thomas HoodIn the still hours, a stiller strength was born - Anne WhitneyContinence - Anne WhitneyThe world is with me, and its many cares... - Thomas HoodI cry your mercy -- pity -- love -- ay, love ... - John KeatsHow many bards gild the lapses of time! - John KeatsThe Look - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Fame (How fever'd is the man, who cannot look ...) - John KeatsFalse Poets And True - Thomas HoodTo The Ocean - Thomas HoodThe Two Sayings - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningO fair mistrust of earth's more solid shows... - Anne WhitneyTo My Brother George - John KeatsI know this spirit bridges unknown space... - Anne WhitneyExaggeration - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningO high-born souls, such as God sends to mould... - Anne WhitneyTo _. (Time's sea hath been five years at its low ebb, ...) - John KeatsOn Fame (Fame, like a wayward girl, will still be coy ...). - John KeatsWork And Contemplation - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningIt is not death, that sometime in a sigh... - Thomas HoodO night, a terrible dismay still lurks... - Anne WhitneyFuturity - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningSonnet To A Sonnet - Thomas HoodSubstitution - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningPerplexed Music - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningAddressed To The Same - John KeatsTo Sleep - John KeatsOn A Dream - John KeatsAnswer To A Sonnet Ending Thus: -- - John KeatsTo A Sleeping Child - Thomas HoodTo Ailsa Rock - John KeatsLargess from seven-fold heavens, I pray, descend... - Anne WhitneyTo A Young Lady Who Sent Me A Laurel Crown. - John KeatsCheerfulness Taught By Reason - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningIrreparableness - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningWritten In The Cottage Where Burns Was Born - John KeatsOh! how I love, on a fair summer's eve, ... - John KeatsPain In Pleasure - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningAn Apprehension - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Prisoner - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Seraph And Poet - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningA Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe day is gone, and all its sweets are gone! ... - John KeatsThe Human Seasons - John KeatsAdequacy - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Leigh Hunt's Poem, The Story Of Rimini. - John KeatsDiscontent - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningAddressed To Haydon - John KeatsThis pleasant tale is like a little copse: ... - John KeatsOn First Looking Into Chapman's Homer - John KeatsC. L'E. - Anne WhitneyAfter dark vapors have oppress'd our plains ... - John KeatsWork (What are we set on earth for? ...) - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningKeen Fitful Gusts Are Whispering Here And There - John KeatsKeats's Last Sonnet - John KeatsTo J. H. Reynolds - John KeatsTo Kosciusko - John KeatsTears - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Receiving A Gift - Thomas HoodTo one who has been long in city pent, ... - John KeatsOn A Picture Of Leander - John KeatsTo _. (Had I a man's fair form, then might my sighs ...) - John KeatsConsolation - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo An Enthusiast - Thomas HoodTo A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses - John KeatsTo The Same - Anne WhitneyFor The Fourteenth Of February - Thomas HoodThou seem'st to solve the eternal unity... - Anne WhitneyWhen I have fears that I may cease to be ... - John KeatsAlas! and yesternight I woke in terror, - Anne WhitneyOn A Portrait Of Wordsworth - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningNo slight caprice rules thee. -- Who sounds one note... - Anne WhitneyTo The Spirit - Anne WhitneyThe Passion Flower - Anne WhitneyTO G. A. W. - John KeatsHappy is England! I could be content ... - John KeatsThe Same (Twas then we said...) - Anne WhitneyTo My Brother - John KeatsTo ____. (My heart is sick with longing, though I feed) - Thomas HoodOn Seeing The Elgin Marbles - John KeatsTo Fancy - Thomas HoodWithin my life another life runs deep, - Anne WhitneySo reed-like fragile, in the world's whirl nought... - Anne WhitneyLear - Thomas HoodFrom all these mounds, though day blows fresh and warm, - Anne WhitneyTo Homer - John KeatsIf by dull rhymes our English must be chain'd ... - John KeatsDarkness surrounds me with its phantom hosts... - Anne WhitneyPatience Taught By Nature - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningI dreamed an angel, Angel twice, through death... - Anne WhitneyOf better fortune coming, then, talk not... - Anne WhitneyYet are there sunbeams, though the kingly sun... - Anne WhitneyRead me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud - John KeatsTo Haydon - John KeatsGrief - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn The Sea - John KeatsThe Same (Might we make quest ...) - Anne WhitneyDark rolling clouds in wild confusion driven... - Caroline Bowles SoutheyBereavement - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningInsufficiency - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo The Nile - John KeatsStoop low, dear Night, a little star-breeze wakes - Anne WhitneyTo George Sand: A Desire - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningBy every sweet tradition of true hearts,... - Thomas HoodWritten On The Day That Mr. Leigh Hunt Left Prison - John KeatsThe Meaning Of The Look - Elizabeth Barrett Browning