 | Lays of Leisure Hours |  |
131
YES! I CAN SMILE!
Yes! I can smile—and almost learn
To smile without a pang of pain,
And hear gay words, and ev'n return
Words careless, light, and gay again!
To smile without a pang of pain,
And hear gay words, and ev'n return
Words careless, light, and gay again!
And I can almost cloak and hide
The sufferings that I cannot check,
Yet not from scorn, and not from pride,
Still should the Sea conceal the Wreck.
The sufferings that I cannot check,
Yet not from scorn, and not from pride,
Still should the Sea conceal the Wreck.
I pray for pity now no more,
Nor shrink from Scrutiny's cold gaze,
Whatever may have moved before,
Nought now can shake my silent days.
Nor shrink from Scrutiny's cold gaze,
Whatever may have moved before,
Nought now can shake my silent days.
132
I do not wish—I do not fear,
But rest in stern and stagnant peace,
Nay! when I shed grief's bitterest tear
I do not pray that pang should cease.
But rest in stern and stagnant peace,
Nay! when I shed grief's bitterest tear
I do not pray that pang should cease.
And yet, even in this frozen mood,
As in Excitement's stormiest hour,
Love, uncontrolled and unsubdued,
Sways o'er my Soul with boundless power!
As in Excitement's stormiest hour,
Love, uncontrolled and unsubdued,
Sways o'er my Soul with boundless power!
| Lays of Leisure Hours | |