 | [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary with introduction and notes |  |
SOLEMNITY OF LIFE.
Whether are cast our destinies
In peaceful ways, or ways of strife;
A solemn thing to us it is,
This mystery of human life.
In peaceful ways, or ways of strife;
A solemn thing to us it is,
This mystery of human life.
439
Solemn, when first, unconscious, dumb,
Within an untried world we stand,
Immortal beings that have come
Newly from God's creating hand.
Within an untried world we stand,
Immortal beings that have come
Newly from God's creating hand.
And solemn, even as 't is fleet,
The time when, learning childish fears,
We cross, with scarcely balanced feet,
The threshold of our mortal years.
The time when, learning childish fears,
We cross, with scarcely balanced feet,
The threshold of our mortal years.
'T is solemn, when, with parting smiles,
We leave its innocence and truth,
To learn how deeper than the child's
Are all the loves and fears of youth.
We leave its innocence and truth,
To learn how deeper than the child's
Are all the loves and fears of youth.
It is a solemn thing to snap
The cords of human love apart;
More solemn still to feel them wrap
Their wondrous strength about the heart.
The cords of human love apart;
More solemn still to feel them wrap
Their wondrous strength about the heart.
'T is solemn to have ever known
The pleadings of the soul unmoved,—
Solemn to feel ourselves alone;
More solemn still to be beloved.
The pleadings of the soul unmoved,—
Solemn to feel ourselves alone;
More solemn still to be beloved.
It is a solemn thing to wear
The roses of the bridal wreath,—
Solemn the words we utter there,
Of faith unchanging until death.
The roses of the bridal wreath,—
Solemn the words we utter there,
Of faith unchanging until death.
Solemn is life, when God unlocks
The fountain in the soul most deep,—
Solemn the heart-beat, when it rocks
A young immortal to its sleep.
The fountain in the soul most deep,—
Solemn the heart-beat, when it rocks
A young immortal to its sleep.
'T is solemn when the Power above
Darkens our being's living spark,—
Solemn to see the friends we love
Going downward from us to the dark.
Darkens our being's living spark,—
Solemn to see the friends we love
Going downward from us to the dark.
O human life, when all thy woes
And all thy trials are struggled through,
What can eternity disclose
More wondrous solemn than we knew!
And all thy trials are struggled through,
What can eternity disclose
More wondrous solemn than we knew!
| [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary with introduction and notes | |