Love, Hope, and Patience in Education

1. 1O'er wayward childhood would'st thou hold firm rule,
2. 2And sun thee in the light of happy faces;
3. 3Love, Hope, and Patience, these must be thy graces,
4. 4And in thine own heart let them first keep school.
5. 5For as old Atlas on his broad neck places
6. 6Heaven's starry globe, and there sustains it;--so
7. 7Do these upbear the little world below
8. 8Of Education,--Patience, Love, and Hope.
9. 9Methinks, I see them group'd in seemly show,
10. 10The straiten'd arms upraised, the palms aslope,
11. 11And robes that touching as adown they flow,
12. 12Distinctly blend, like snow emboss'd in snow.

1. 13O part them never! If Hope prostrate lie,
2. 14Love too will sink and die.
3. 15But Love is subtle, and doth proof derive
4. 16From her own life that Hope is yet alive;
5. 17And bending o'er, with soul-transfusing eyes,
6. 18And the soft murmurs of the mother dove,
7. 19Woos back the fleeting spirit, and half supplies;--
8. 20Thus Love repays to Hope what Hope first gave to Love.

1. 21Yet haply there will come a weary day,
2. 22When overtask'd at length
3. 23Both Love and Hope beneath the load give way.
4. 24Then with a statue's smile, a statue's strength,
5. 25Stands the mute sister, Patience, nothing loth,
6. 26And both supporting does the work of both.