 | Golden Histories, etc |  |
237
Doubt
It came at length; I rose to face the day;
Rude laughter met me, voices loud and wild,
Music and mystery both had past away,
An orphan I, for God had left his child.
Rude laughter met me, voices loud and wild,
Music and mystery both had past away,
An orphan I, for God had left his child.
I paced the lone uncomfortable sand,
The sea lay flat and sullen as a pond,
Ah! what if there should be no morning-land,
Should be no sunrise and no shore beyond.
The sea lay flat and sullen as a pond,
Ah! what if there should be no morning-land,
Should be no sunrise and no shore beyond.
Then doubt on doubt of subtle thread I spun,
Firm were the strands, the thread was all compact,
From sense and fancy hateful help I won,
Built thought on thought and buttressed fact by fact.
Firm were the strands, the thread was all compact,
From sense and fancy hateful help I won,
Built thought on thought and buttressed fact by fact.
“Spring comes, ” I cried, “but never more return
“The leaf and blossom of the perished year,
“On tree and tower red fruit and berry burn,
“But not the same the old autumn suns held dear.
“The leaf and blossom of the perished year,
“On tree and tower red fruit and berry burn,
“But not the same the old autumn suns held dear.
238
“All grows and ripens, falls, decays, and dies;
“There is no second life for flower or tree,
“O suffering soul! be humble and be wise!
“Nor dream new worlds have any need of thee!
“There is no second life for flower or tree,
“O suffering soul! be humble and be wise!
“Nor dream new worlds have any need of thee!
“Yet, tho'thy fruit must fall, thy blossom fade,
“Like all fair things before the unpitying Hours,
“Live, like thy fellow-mortals of the glade,
“And die like thy co-rivals of the bowers.”
“Like all fair things before the unpitying Hours,
“Live, like thy fellow-mortals of the glade,
“And die like thy co-rivals of the bowers.”
| Golden Histories, etc | |