From rosy bowers we issue forth, <br />From east to west, from south to north, <br />Unseen, unfelt, by night, by day, <br />Abroad we take our airy way: <br />We foster love and kindle strife, <br />The bitter and the sweet of life: <br />Piercing and sharp, we wound like steel; <br />Now, smooth as oil, those wounds we heal: <br />Not strings of pearl are valued more, <br />Or gems enchased in golden ore; <br />Yet thousands of us every day, <br />Worthless and vile, are thrown away. <br />Ye wise, secure with bars of brass <br />The double doors through which we pass; <br />For, once escaped, back to our cell <br />No human art can us compel.<br /><br />Anna Laetitia Barbauld<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/riddle-22/
