Flower o' the thorn A book of wayside verse: By John Payne |
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THE LEAVES' LESSON. |
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 | Flower o' the thorn |  |
THE LEAVES' LESSON.
NO two leaves are alike upon the tree,
(The wind went whispering these words to me.)
No rose upon the bush is like another;
No meadow-sheep is like his woolly brother.
(The wind went whispering these words to me.)
No rose upon the bush is like another;
No meadow-sheep is like his woolly brother.
Thou sighest for a soul akin to thine,
A heart to halve with thee thy joy and pine;
Thou wouldst a lover have, a friend, to share
The things that are, that will be and that were.
A heart to halve with thee thy joy and pine;
Thou wouldst a lover have, a friend, to share
The things that are, that will be and that were.
Thou sigh'st in vain. Since first the world began,
Man never knew the heart of other man;
None ever might in other one discover
The soul-perfecting half, the friend, the lover.
Man never knew the heart of other man;
None ever might in other one discover
The soul-perfecting half, the friend, the lover.
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Since first the sun and moon in Heaven were shown,
Each living thing must walk the world alone:
None is there made to share with other one,
Beneath the mute all-suffering moon and sun.
Each living thing must walk the world alone:
None is there made to share with other one,
Beneath the mute all-suffering moon and sun.
Love was but made to keep the world agate:
Its aim fulfilled, too oft it turns to hate:
No bond there is, in Time's unstable weather,
Save wont and need, to link two lives together.
Its aim fulfilled, too oft it turns to hate:
No bond there is, in Time's unstable weather,
Save wont and need, to link two lives together.
Each must his own road run for ill or weal:
Heal thine own heart: none other can it heal.
'Tis better not to dream, since one must wake,
And broken dreams the heart o'er-often break.
Heal thine own heart: none other can it heal.
'Tis better not to dream, since one must wake,
And broken dreams the heart o'er-often break.
No torment is there like to hope deceived:
The loneliest life excels a life bereaved:
No dearth there is can vie for desolation
With that which comes of empty expectation.
The loneliest life excels a life bereaved:
No dearth there is can vie for desolation
With that which comes of empty expectation.
Life's lesson learn and to thyself suffice:
No sun of love can thaw the eternal ice.
Trust thine own self and thou without despair
Shalt, if not happy, (Who is happy?) fare.
No sun of love can thaw the eternal ice.
Trust thine own self and thou without despair
Shalt, if not happy, (Who is happy?) fare.
The case made plain is, when we come to die.
Then “you” nor “they” abide, but only “I.”
The naked soul alone, without a hand
To hold, must fare into the Unknown Land.
Then “you” nor “they” abide, but only “I.”
The naked soul alone, without a hand
To hold, must fare into the Unknown Land.
Ask not for joy; with calm thyself content.
Peace, pleasance, sympathy, accomplishment
Of hope, are words for which in vain we con
Life's vague unwritten enchiridion.
Peace, pleasance, sympathy, accomplishment
Of hope, are words for which in vain we con
Life's vague unwritten enchiridion.
100
Death only can content thee, Death the just,
That thy dust mingles with the general dust;
Then only shall thy soul with others share
Life, when thou one art with the earth and air.
That thy dust mingles with the general dust;
Then only shall thy soul with others share
Life, when thou one art with the earth and air.
Then, when of rain and sun thou'rt art and part,
Soul shall thou be and heart of the world's heart.
Till then be wise and weigh this word from me;
No two leaves are alike upon the tree.
Soul shall thou be and heart of the world's heart.
Till then be wise and weigh this word from me;
No two leaves are alike upon the tree.
| Flower o' the thorn | |