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None see it, but an unseen Eye,
That looks on all our revelry.

And when the hall

Is wild with brawl;

When a man laughs

At what he quaffs;

Tells his own wealth

Though no one hears;

Drinks his own health

For many years;

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This world does love

All worlds above;

And dares his friend

To the world's end:

When thus the fire

Mounts higher and higher;

Then, severed by an unseen hand,

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The thread lets fall the sword like thunder:

And, as a wreck on enemies' strand,

There's nought but death, and fear, and wonder.

Yet think not that the grape's refused:
The Lord himself its goodness used;
And, when it failed, created more,
To give new-wedded friends a store.
But moderate is the mess and bowl,

When thirst and hunger's in the soul:
When reverent thanks at household fare

For eucharistic feasts prepare :

And then that holier food shall be

The strength of immortality.

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Blessed are they who mercy shew
To all the creatures here below:

To bird, and insect, fish, and beast,
Even from the greatest to the least.

For, tell me whether wouldst thou be,
If thou couldst have thy mind,

The lark, at heaven's gate singing free;
Or in a cage confined:

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The dog, that chases, blithe, his tail;

Or chained, the yard within:

The chafer, floating on the gale;

Or writhing on a pin?

The measure then of God's own hand,

Mete thou to all in thy command:

But chiefly to thy fellow kind,

In age, or childhood, grief, or pain:—

A Father's mercy thou shalt find,

Where none shall ever moan again.

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