 | Poems (1865) |  |
XIII. THE LITTLE BUILDERS.
A THOUGHT FROM ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.
The Saint looked on the child and said,
“All men must build; upon the sand
Or rock, with eager heart and hand
All men must build; but I with thee,
Dear child, in thy simplicity
Will build in patience undismayed.
“All men must build; upon the sand
Or rock, with eager heart and hand
All men must build; but I with thee,
Dear child, in thy simplicity
Will build in patience undismayed.
“I will not twine for love a bower,
I will not raise for pride a tower
To reach to Heaven. What ruins lie
On Earth! and in the heart a cry
Will rise from many a palace old
Become of doleful things the fold.
I will not raise for pride a tower
To reach to Heaven. What ruins lie
On Earth! and in the heart a cry
Will rise from many a palace old
Become of doleful things the fold.
“But I will learn from thee, dear child,
The secret of all loss and gain.
Thou smilest when a careless hand
Or hasty step destroys the pain
And cost of all that thou hast planned;
And then, unsaddened, unperplexed,
Content to see thy work in vain,
Art ready with a mind unvexed,
From the first stone to build again.”
The secret of all loss and gain.
Thou smilest when a careless hand
Or hasty step destroys the pain
And cost of all that thou hast planned;
And then, unsaddened, unperplexed,
Content to see thy work in vain,
Art ready with a mind unvexed,
From the first stone to build again.”
Dora Greenwell.
| Poems (1865) | |