FOR EVERY ONE THAT ASKETH RECEIVETH.
Oh! ask not wealth;
The gaudy bauble glitters to deceive;
It hath a thorn to press thee when asleep;
It maketh wings and leaveth thee to weep;
Ask not what wealth can give. Oh! ask not fame;
The empty bubble breaks at every gale;
Its mighty shadow stalks in midnight gloom;
It kills its hero, and then haunts his tomb,
Where all its triumphs fail. Oh ask not love;
"The fond heart's idol" breaketh the fond heart;
Its smile is oft deceitful, and its power
Too oft is felt in sorrow's darkest hour;
Ask not his treacherous dart. Oh! ask not power;
Seek not a burden that must crush thee down.
Look at the thrones of tyrants in the dust;
Behold how frail the prop in which they trust;
Ask where their might has gone. Oh! ask not life;
"Not even life itself makes good the name,"
How oft its victim craves the boon of death,
When guilt or sorrow yearn to yield the breath;
Ask not the fitful flame. Ask for a broken heart;
A grief for all the ills thy hand hath done;
A pang for wasted life, for useless breath;
A hope that triumphs o'er the fear of death.
Ask, and the goal is won. Ask for a quiet mind;
A heart at rest from all the jars of strife;
A humble heart that never soars to fall;
A heart to bless the hand that gives it all,
That priceless gift of life. Ask for a fount of tears;
The heart to sympathize in other's woe;
The soul to feel for all the sorrowing here,
And power to point them to a better sphere,
Where tears can never flow. Ask for a home in heaven,
Poor lonely wanderer on life's troubled sea,
When wealth, and fame, and power are gone,
And all earth's blandishments forever flown,
Where grief can never be.