 | Graffiti d'Italia |  |
371
BLANK QUESTIONINGS.
What is this vague, dim world before,
We vainly struggle to explore
With outstretched wishes, hopes, and thoughts,
That fail before they reach the shore?
We vainly struggle to explore
With outstretched wishes, hopes, and thoughts,
That fail before they reach the shore?
What is this startling, sudden change,
That in a moment from the range
Of every sense takes life away
To regions dim and strange?
That in a moment from the range
Of every sense takes life away
To regions dim and strange?
Dear friend! my earnest following thought
Thy track into that world hath sought
In vain; no word nor silent sign
Of what, and where thou art, is brought.
Thy track into that world hath sought
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Of what, and where thou art, is brought.
And yet I seem to feel that thou
Beholdest me more nearly now,
And all my soul, like some clear book,
Readest, I see not how.
Beholdest me more nearly now,
And all my soul, like some clear book,
Readest, I see not how.
And knowing, now that life has fled,
Thou, silent and unseen, may'st thread
The dim, still chambers of my soul—
I feel, as with a holy dread,
Thou, silent and unseen, may'st thread
The dim, still chambers of my soul—
I feel, as with a holy dread,
How full of love it ought to be,
How pure of thought, how clean and free
From any stain and soil of sense,
Which thy dear eyes could see.
How pure of thought, how clean and free
From any stain and soil of sense,
Which thy dear eyes could see.
Come, then, when I am sad and low,
And through those chambers softly blow
The fragrance of thy love around,
And seeds of purer purpose sow.
And through those chambers softly blow
The fragrance of thy love around,
And seeds of purer purpose sow.
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Come! find the secret memories
That are not seen of human eyes—
The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, that dwell
In inmost privacies.
That are not seen of human eyes—
The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, that dwell
In inmost privacies.
And if thou findest, entering there,
Some nooks that are not wholly bare
Of love, forgive them for that love,
The evil and unfair.
Some nooks that are not wholly bare
Of love, forgive them for that love,
The evil and unfair.
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