TO
ONE IN DESPAIR
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O
die not yet, great heart; but deign
A little longer to endure
This life of passionate fret and strain,
Of slender hope and joy unsure!
Take
Contemplation by the sleeve,
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And
ask her, "Is it not worth while
To teach my fellows not to grieve,—
To lend them courage in a smile?
"Is
it so little to have made
The timorous ashamed of fear,— |
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| The
idle and the false afraid
To front existence with a sneer?"
For
those who live within your sway
Know not a mortal fear, save one,—
That some irreparable day |
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| They
should awake, and find you gone. |
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II
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Live
on, love on! Let reason swerve;
But instinct knows her own great lore,
Like some uncharted planet's curve
That sweeps in sight, then is no more.
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Live on, love on, without a qualm,
Child of immortal charity,
In the great certitude and calm
Of joy free-born that shall not die.
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III
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| We dream
ourselves inheritors |
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Of some
unknown and distant good,
That shall requite us for the faults
Of our own lax ineptitude.
But soon and surely they may come,
Whom love makes wise and courage free,
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Into
their heritage of joy,—
Their earth-day of eternity. |
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IV
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The
thought that I could ever call
Your name, and you would not be here,
At moments sweeps my soul away
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| In the
relentless tide of fear;
Then from its awful ebb returns
The sea of gladness strong and sure.
By this I know that love is great;
By this I know I shall endure.
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40 |
V
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When
I shall have lain down to sleep,
I pray no sound to break my rest.
No seraph's trumpet through the night
Could touch my weary soul with zest.
But oh, beyond the reach of thought
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How
I should waken and rejoice,
To hear across the drift of time
One golden echo of your voice! |
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