 | St. Augustine's Holiday and Other Poems |  |
132
A CONTRAST.
I
Outside, over the lea,Thunderous sky of a May-day morn,
Soft sad green of the growing corn,
The blackbird under the red-leaf'd tree,
A host of cowslips where shadows pass
From sailing clouds above the grass.
Things of the spring and summer born,
Nothing faded, nothing forlorn,
But all looks tenderly for me
Outside, over the lea.
II
Far away a room I see.An old man lying in mortal pain,
With thin hands clasp'd again and again.
One chant only cometh to me—
Miserere Domine!
All is vanity!
Far away a room I see.
133
III
Yet over sorrow and over deathCometh at last a song that saith—
This, this is the victory,
Even our faith.
Love maketh all the crooked straight,
And love bringeth love to all that wait,
And laughter and light and dewy tear
to the hard blind eyes of Fate.
All shall look tenderly yet and free
Outside over the lea,
And deep within the heart of me.
| St. Augustine's Holiday and Other Poems | |