Love, Hope, and Patience in Education

O'er wayward childhood would'st thou hold firm rule, / And sun thee in the light of happy faces; / Love, Hope, and Patience, these must be thy graces, / And in thine own heart let them first keep school. / For as old Atlas on his broad neck places / Heaven's starry globe, and there sustains it; -- so / Do these upbear the little world below / Of Education, -- Patience, Love, and Hope. / Methinks, I see them group'd in seemly show, / The straiten'd arms upraised, the palms aslope, / And robes that touching as adown they flow, / Distinctly blend, like snow emboss'd in snow. / O part them never! If Hope prostrate lie, / Love too will sink and die. / But Love is subtle, and doth proof derive / From her own life that Hope is yet alive; / And bending o'er, with soul-transfusing eyes, / And the soft murmurs of the mother dove, / Wooes back the fleeting spirit, and half supplies; -- / Thus Love repays to Hope what Hope first gave to Love. / Yet haply there will come a weary day, / When overtask'd at length / Both Love and Hope beneath the load give way. / Then with a statue's smile, a statue's strength, / Stands the mute sister, Patience, nothing loth, / And both supporting does the work of both.