Poems and Songs by E. H. B. [i.e. E. H. Bickersteth] | ||
136
WHAT IS THE SUNSHINE OF THE HEART?
I
What is the sunshine of the heart?'Tis pictured on the summer sky;
Our happiness is shown in part
Mid fields and flowers of beauteous dye.
II
Our cares—oh! they are passing cloudsThat for a space obscure the light,—
The nightly sleep, which only shrouds,
Not dims the morning beams so bright.
III
Our tears are but the falling leavesWhich Autumn scatters round our bowers,
Soon—soon forgotten as the trees
Bear promise of the springtide flowers.
137
IV
But the heart's deeper sorrows shootTheir leaves within themselves—and grow—
Alike the stem the cankered root;—
While the dull sap flows downward—slow—
V
There nourishes the hidden grief,Within its bare and withering form;
And stunted stands, in sad relief,
Amid the desert's fiercest storm.
Poems and Songs by E. H. B. [i.e. E. H. Bickersteth] | ||