 | The Burden of the Bell and Other Lyrics |  |
216
L' ENVOI.
You'll gather the May-bloom, O friends, I know;—You'll seek the violets, where they're wont to grow,
In sunny glades and dells;—you'll cull the rare,
First briar-roses, blushing faint and fair:
But will you deign to lift from out the grass,
Where I have laid it, close to where you'll pass,
This posy of my gathering? Pale its hues
And faint its perfume ah! you'll scarcely choose
To bear it far, I fear;—to bear it home?
No chance of that—though you'll accord it some
Slight praise, it may be, in your pity, ere
You drop it in the dust, and leave it there.
Well, be it so!—no blame—flowers bloom and die
By myriads, daily, underneath God's sky,
Quite unregarded;—do they bloom in vain
For this?—oh, heresy!—I dare maintain
A happier faith—dare argue hopefully,
Uplooking to that same blue loving sky,
217
And no true song, howe'er unheard the singing,
But hath its mission One at least can scan—
But serves some purpose in the eternal plan.
Say then you leave my wreath unheeded, where
I've laid it—I shall still not quite despair,
While from belief like this, such comfort floweth,
For, that I've twined it with true heart, God knoweth!
| The Burden of the Bell and Other Lyrics | |