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9

[V
We trod into the starlight, into the night]

We trod into the starlight, into the night;
The ways of our deliverance were not mild:
Long had we been contented and beguiled,
And long importunate lovers of the light.
Long had we sought and scorned the false delight
Of perishable things and things defiled,—
Reckless at last we passed unreconciled
Out thro' the darkness in all men's despite.
And much we suffered, and spent our strength and youth
On the steep paths, and lived in loneliness,
Till, as our life-blood fed the lamp of Truth,
Ruin rent down the fortress-walls of Fear,
And light was kindled in the blind, austere
Ways of the soul's eternal restlessness.