On an Engraving of Hindoo Temple - Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Lyrics

Little the present careth for the past Too little,—'tis not well! For careless ones we dwell Beneath the mighty shadow it has cast Its blessings are around our daily path We share its mighty spoil We live on its great toil And yet how little gratitude it hath Look on these temples, they were as a shrine From whence to the far north The human mind went forth The moral sunshine of a world divine— That inward world which makеth of our clay Its temporary home; From whencе those lightnings come That kindle from a far and better day The light that is of heaven shone there the first The elements of art Mankind's diviner part; There was young science in its cradle nurst Mighty the legacies by mind bequeathed For glorious were its pains Amid those giant fanes And mighty were the triumphs it achieved A woman's triumph* mid them is imprest One who upon the scroll Flung the creative soul Disdainful of life's flowers and of its rest Vast was the labour, vast the enterprise For she was of a race Born to the lowest place Earth-insects, lacking wings whereon to rise How must that youthful cheek have lost its bloom How many a dream above Of early hope and love Must that young heart have closed on like a tomb Such throw life's flowers behind them, and aspire To ask the stars their lore And from each ancient store Seek food to stay the mind's consuming fire Her triumph was complete and long, the chords She struck are yet alive; Not vainly did she strive To leave her soul immortal on her words A great example has she left behind A lesson we should take Whose first task is to wake The general wish to benefit our kind Our sword has swept o'er India; there remains A nobler conquest far The mind's ethereal war That but subdues to civilize its plains Let us pay back the past, the debt we owe Let us around dispense Light, hope, intelligence Till blessings track our steps where'er we go O England, thine be the deliverer's meed Be thy great empire known By hearts made all thine own By thy free laws and thy immortal creed