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 | The bird and the bell, with other poems |  |
238
COMPENSATION.
Tears wash away the atoms in the eye
That smarted for a day;
Rain-clouds that spoiled the splendors of the sky
The fields with flowers array.
That smarted for a day;
Rain-clouds that spoiled the splendors of the sky
The fields with flowers array.
No chamber of pain but has some hidden door
That promises release;
No solitude so drear but yields its store
Of thought and inward peace.
That promises release;
No solitude so drear but yields its store
Of thought and inward peace.
No night so wild but brings the constant sun
With love and power untold;
No time so dark but through its woof there run
Some blessed threads of gold.
With love and power untold;
No time so dark but through its woof there run
Some blessed threads of gold.
239
And through the long and storm-tost centuries burn
In changing calm and strife
The Pharos-lights of truth, where'er we turn,—
The unquenched lamps of life.
In changing calm and strife
The Pharos-lights of truth, where'er we turn,—
The unquenched lamps of life.
O Love supreme! O Providence divine!
What self-adjusting springs
Of law and life, what even scales, are thine,
What sure-returning wings
What self-adjusting springs
Of law and life, what even scales, are thine,
What sure-returning wings
Of hopes and joys that flit like birds away,
When chilling Autumn blows,
But come again, long ere the buds of May
Their rosy lips unclose!
When chilling Autumn blows,
But come again, long ere the buds of May
Their rosy lips unclose!
What wondrous play of mood and accident
Through shifting days and years;
What fresh returns of vigor overspent
In feverish dreams and fears!
Through shifting days and years;
What fresh returns of vigor overspent
In feverish dreams and fears!
What wholesome air of conscience and of thought
When doubts and forms oppress;
What vistas opening to the gates we sought
Beyond the wilderness;
When doubts and forms oppress;
What vistas opening to the gates we sought
Beyond the wilderness;
240
Beyond the narrow cells where self-involved.
Like chrysalids, we wait
The unknown births, the mysteries unsolved
Of death and change and fate!
Like chrysalids, we wait
The unknown births, the mysteries unsolved
Of death and change and fate!
O Light divine! we need no fuller test
That all is ordered well;
We know enough to trust that all is best
Where Love and Wisdom dwell.
That all is ordered well;
We know enough to trust that all is best
Where Love and Wisdom dwell.
1874.
| The bird and the bell, with other poems | |