The Recluse Poem by John William Inchbold

Hast seen the many-coloured bow of life,
And tasted all the sweetness that lies hid
Within a human smile? When wert thou bid
To cease sweet laughter? who dare teach that strife
In noble cause is wrong—to rend the skies
With peals of joy a sin?—must we be still
Of full life shorn—accept or good or ill
As chance directs? Is it too much to rise
And disentangle life with thought and deed
And taste the fresh keen breezes from the sea,
And Time's slow breath make quick with many a kiss?
Open is Nature's book that all may read
And learn how life is made both pure and free
With shade and sunshine charged alike with bliss.