 | Studies in verse (1865) |  |
“Nay, this is not my son, his clothes are fine:
There is a new look grown about his eyes
Since he left home: he speaks not like my boy:
My son would never laugh so in his shame.
Although an angel told me this is he,
Should I believe that angel? Yet I know
That I am very weak and very near
My end, and cannot sunder false from true.
Nay, Lord, Thou knowest my burthen is not light.
Thou wilt not be extreme to mark, if I
Have faltered with immeasurable load.
I would bear up, but on my heart is spread
A numbness, and my limbs are weak as dust:
And, I believe, thou call'st me to Thy rest.
There is a new look grown about his eyes
Since he left home: he speaks not like my boy:
My son would never laugh so in his shame.
Although an angel told me this is he,
Should I believe that angel? Yet I know
That I am very weak and very near
My end, and cannot sunder false from true.
Nay, Lord, Thou knowest my burthen is not light.
Thou wilt not be extreme to mark, if I
Have faltered with immeasurable load.
I would bear up, but on my heart is spread
A numbness, and my limbs are weak as dust:
And, I believe, thou call'st me to Thy rest.
| Studies in verse (1865) | |