University of Virginia Library

[IV. That stroke which shatters the devoted heart]

That stroke which shatters the devoted heart,
Its faith in the beloved one—the sweet trust,
That felt him genial and believed him just,
And rudely rends the linkéd souls apart,
Denied the old communion—is the blow
Most mortal, that the mortal meets below!

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The death of the affections—the true life
That from humanity pluck'd the cruel sting,
Which, born of its first faltering, doom'd the strife
Heal'd only by the true heart's minist'ring!—
There is no other sorrow, born of love,
Which love itself can heal not;—and for this,
'Twere idle any ministry to prove,—
Since love, in loss of faith, hath lost all right to bliss!