University of Virginia Library


17

TRY AGAIN.

Sweet, try again;” so Beauty said to me;
As wipes a mother tenderly the face
Of her child who has stumbled, eager, in a race,
Till once again his features beam with glee,
So would God's pale humanity smile if He
Vouchsafed a similar maternal grace,
If He would bid our souls resume the chase
Undaunted, what a glory it would be!
So thought I, and a little bird came nigh
With gentle eyes and glistening plumes of blue
Just as my passion ended in a sigh
Of doubt, and joy was potent to renew,
Whispering, as if with message from the sky,
“The thought is no deceit, child, it is true.”