Classic Poem

WHEREIN HE URGES A FRIEND, IN EQUAL CASE, TO LIFT UP HIS SOUL TO GOD

Evil oppresses me and worse dismay,
To which a plain and ample path I find;
Frenzied like thee, I stagger wild and blind,
Whipped by harsh thoughts, like thee I run astray,
Not knowing if for war or peace to pray:
To war is loss, to peace contempt assigned.
But why brood longer? What the Highest Mind
Ordains I do not question, but obey.
However ill thy difficult honour sit
Upon me — whom the error of Love sways
That often will the sound eye subtly cheat —
This is my word: at once thy spirit raise
To Heaven, address the Throne, His grace entreat,
For O the way is long and short the days!