University of Virginia Library


11

Evil

Why is there evil mingled with your good?
Why is there darkness mingled with your light?
Why, when we ask in over-curious mood
These riddles, are we plunged in blackest night?
You alone know the secret of your life:
You know your plan, your purpose, and your goal.
You seem distraught with fierce, intestine strife;
Yet surely peace reigns in your inmost soul.
It is enough to know that in my heart
The feud enacts itself from day to day;
That darkness triumphs whensoe'er the part
Defies the whole and goes its separate way:—
To know that evil is to seek my own,
That goodness is to live for you alone.