 | Poems |  |
233
O WEARY THOUGHTS, BE STILL!
O weary, weary thoughts, be still!
O life—why should life be
A thing for only vain regrets
And bitterness to me!
For love to give or to withhold,
Is all our power above;
O fate, why did we ever meet!
Why ever did we love!
If love were sin, to sin or not
Was all beyond our will.
Alas, why should my life be grief?
O weary thoughts, be still!
O life—why should life be
A thing for only vain regrets
And bitterness to me!
For love to give or to withhold,
Is all our power above;
O fate, why did we ever meet!
Why ever did we love!
If love were sin, to sin or not
Was all beyond our will.
Alas, why should my life be grief?
O weary thoughts, be still!
A hard, hard lot, I know is mine
Of work and want and scorn;
And yet with what a gladness all
With him I could have borne?
With him, what fate had I not shared,
Content, that life had given!
With him, with what of pain and want
Had I not tearless striven!
O why should love, so blessing some,
My days with misery fill!
Alas, why should I long to die!
O weary thoughts, be still!
Of work and want and scorn;
And yet with what a gladness all
With him I could have borne?
With him, what fate had I not shared,
Content, that life had given!
With him, with what of pain and want
Had I not tearless striven!
O why should love, so blessing some,
My days with misery fill!
Alas, why should I long to die!
O weary thoughts, be still!
Who say, not all the wealth of earth
Can happiness impart?
Alas, how little do they know
How want can break a heart!
How want has stood 'twixt sunder'd lives,
Lives parted through the shame,
That station, wedding poverty,
Had link'd unto its name.
O God, what different life were mine
If it had been thy will
My lot with his had equal been!
O weary thoughts, be still!
Can happiness impart?
Alas, how little do they know
How want can break a heart!
How want has stood 'twixt sunder'd lives,
Lives parted through the shame,
That station, wedding poverty,
Had link'd unto its name.
O God, what different life were mine
If it had been thy will
My lot with his had equal been!
O weary thoughts, be still!
234
Another with his love is bless'd;
I am another's now;
Between us yawns for evermore
A double holy vow;
But years must deeper changes bring
Than change of state or name,
Ere, early love and thoughts forgot,
Our hearts are not the same.
Alas, the feelings of the past
Our lives must ever fill!
O would—O would I could forget!
O weary thoughts, be still!
I am another's now;
Between us yawns for evermore
A double holy vow;
But years must deeper changes bring
Than change of state or name,
Ere, early love and thoughts forgot,
Our hearts are not the same.
Alas, the feelings of the past
Our lives must ever fill!
O would—O would I could forget!
O weary thoughts, be still!
I know—I know, to think of him
As once I thought is sin,
But all in vain I strive my mind
From its old thoughts to win;
His treasured words—his low fond tones
My eyes with tears will dim;
My thoughts by day—my dreams by night,
Will fill themselves with him;
And what we were, and what we are,
Comes back, do all I will.
Alas, why did I ever live?
O weary thoughts, be still!
As once I thought is sin,
But all in vain I strive my mind
From its old thoughts to win;
His treasured words—his low fond tones
My eyes with tears will dim;
My thoughts by day—my dreams by night,
Will fill themselves with him;
And what we were, and what we are,
Comes back, do all I will.
Alas, why did I ever live?
O weary thoughts, be still!
There's love within my husband's looks
That I with joy should see;
Alas, it brings another face
That once looked love on me!
And tears will even dim my gaze
Upon my baby's face,
As not a look I see it wear
That there I'd thought to trace.
O why should thus the joys of life
With grief mine only fill!
Alas, why did I ever live!
O weary thoughts, be still!
That I with joy should see;
Alas, it brings another face
That once looked love on me!
And tears will even dim my gaze
Upon my baby's face,
As not a look I see it wear
That there I'd thought to trace.
O why should thus the joys of life
With grief mine only fill!
Alas, why did I ever live!
O weary thoughts, be still!
O men! O men! God never will'd
That lives, that nature meant
To bless each other's days, by you
Asunder should be rent.
A deadly sin he surely holds
The worldly thoughts that part,
For chance of birth or chance of wealth,
A heart from any heart.
World, world, thou crossest God, his earth
With broken hearts to fill.
Alas, how blest might ours have been!
O weary thoughts, be still!
That lives, that nature meant
235
Asunder should be rent.
A deadly sin he surely holds
The worldly thoughts that part,
For chance of birth or chance of wealth,
A heart from any heart.
World, world, thou crossest God, his earth
With broken hearts to fill.
Alas, how blest might ours have been!
O weary thoughts, be still!
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