[XLIV. If mere existence be Love's scope]
If mere existence be Love's scope,
And earth his brief and petty scene,
I cry, from scorn of cheated hope,
'Twere better Love had never been!
Why should man toil, by slow degrees,
To fit his soul for things divine,
While Pan is peering through the trees,
And Bacchus pours his reeling wine?
Hope, born of Love, in grief replies,
“Why draw in trouble with thy breath?
When Adam woke in Paradise,
What knew he of predestined death?
“He ate and knew, he sinned and fell,
He saw his blood upon the sod:
Death's woful tale were yet to tell,
Had he been faithful to his God.
“When love arose within thy soul,
My cheering whisper said to thee,
‘Stars wax and wane, but this shall roll
Its orbit round eternity.’
“Why doubt and fear? Take love on trust,
Nor charge thy title with a flaw;
No special grace requires thy dust
Beyond the universal law.
“The promises I made were clear,
They cannot pass, they keep their worth.
You say, ‘Fulfilment draws not near:’
They shall not be fulfilled on earth.
“You stand beneath the darkened porch,
And quarrel with the builder's plan;
Anon, I'll rise, and light a torch,
And show the true abode of man.
“What thing on changing earth can stand?
What work of human hands shall last?
You draw a picture on the sand,
Then shriek at every wave and blast.
“Love dwells within the heart of heaven;
Creating light, he light preserves;
Such glimpses as to man are given
Are more than faithless man deserves.
“Despair not, though Fear cries, dismayed,
‘Death throws a shadow far and wide.’
Whatever casts on earth a shade,
Looks brighter on its heavenward side.
“Though to thy senses Death may be
A grisly phantom of the night,
We call him, in eternity,
An angel of transcendent light.
“No higher instinct of the soul
Bears fruit on earth; it blossoms there;
It strives to burst from time's control;
It seeks an outlet everywhere.
“These aspirations are not vain;
The callow eaglet beats his wing;
The nestling lark begins the strain
That he in highest heaven shall sing.
“So far from Death defeating Love,
Death saves him from this earthly strife,
Till through his native realm he move,
The spirit's strength, the spirit's life.
“Be true to Love, and Love for thee
Shall bear at last his perfect fruit:
As well doubt immortality
As doubt its highest attribute.”
