Poems by Violet Fane [i.e. M. M. Lamb] With Portrait engraved by E. Stodart ... in two volumes |
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COMPENSATION.
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 | Poems by Violet Fane [i.e. M. M. Lamb] |  |
47
COMPENSATION.
To those who may have fail'd to gain
The treasure that I prize to-day,
Lest they should envy me, I say
How long I strove for it in vain;
The treasure that I prize to-day,
Lest they should envy me, I say
How long I strove for it in vain;
How dark and dreary were the years,
Lest they should deem my life all bliss,
Before at last I won the kiss
That dried the fountain of my tears.
Lest they should deem my life all bliss,
Before at last I won the kiss
That dried the fountain of my tears.
How months and weeks and days pass'd by,
And how the lonely loveless night
Seem'd but to come to show that light
Had faded from the sullen sky.
And how the lonely loveless night
Seem'd but to come to show that light
Had faded from the sullen sky.
How sleep seem'd sent me to forget,
And how my dreaming was a dread,
How daylight dawn'd and darkness fled
As sadly as the daylight set.
And how my dreaming was a dread,
How daylight dawn'd and darkness fled
As sadly as the daylight set.
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And how a dull and weary ache,
The thought that nothing good could be,
Came like a death-chill over me
When first I saw the morning break.
The thought that nothing good could be,
Came like a death-chill over me
When first I saw the morning break.
And then there came the dismal round
Of all the fruitless barren hours
Scatter'd like handfuls of fresh flow'rs
That wither wasted on the ground.
Of all the fruitless barren hours
Scatter'd like handfuls of fresh flow'rs
That wither wasted on the ground.
Alas! the Winter's dreary gloom,
The aimless yearnings of the Spring!
The Autumn's silent withering,
And all the blinding summer bloom!
The aimless yearnings of the Spring!
The Autumn's silent withering,
And all the blinding summer bloom!
Long years of hopelessness, and how
Unsunn'd, unnourish'd save by tears,
My heart beat on thro' all the years
That, thanks to you, are brighten'd now!
Unsunn'd, unnourish'd save by tears,
My heart beat on thro' all the years
That, thanks to you, are brighten'd now!
Yet, lest to those whose lives have been
Less sad, and now may seem less bright,
My life should hold too much delight,
Too much of what they have not seen;
Less sad, and now may seem less bright,
My life should hold too much delight,
Too much of what they have not seen;
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And lest they envy me the glow
Of sunshine that my sun has shed
Upon a path they may not tread,
I say, “It was not always so;”
Of sunshine that my sun has shed
Upon a path they may not tread,
I say, “It was not always so;”
That they may know these golden years
Which Love has made to seem so bright,
Were heralded by darkest night,
And earned in bitterness and tears.
Which Love has made to seem so bright,
Were heralded by darkest night,
And earned in bitterness and tears.
| Poems by Violet Fane [i.e. M. M. Lamb] | |