And life has nobler uses Than Regret. All past words retracing, Does not help effacing What is done. Let it be. Oh, stronger Links can break! Had we dreamed still longer We could wake, Yet let us part in kindness Bitterness and sorrow Will at last, In some bright to-morrow, Heal their past; But future hearts will never Be as true As mine was-is ever, Dear, for you. . . Then must we part, when loving As we do? PAST AND PRESENT. INGER," I cried, "oh radiant Time! thy power Has nothing more to give; life is complete: Let but the perfect Present, hour by hour, "And Love, the future can but mar its splendour, But Time passed on in spite of prayer or pleading, Through storm and peril; but that life might gain A Peace through strife all other peace exceeding, Fresh joy from sorrow, and new hope from pain. And since Love lived when all save Love was dying, And, passed through fire, grew stronger than before: Dear, you know why, in double faith relying, I prize the Past much, but the Present more. FOR THE FUTURE. WONDER did you ever count The value of one human fate; Of one heart's treasures, and the weight Of Life's one venture, and the whole concentrate purof a soul. pose And if you ever paused to think That all this in your hands I laid Without a fear:-did you not shrink From such a burthen? half afraid, Half wishing that you could divide the risk, or cast it all aside. While Love has daily perils, such As none foresee and none control; And hearts are strung so that one touch, You well might feel afraid to reign with absolute power of joy and pain. You well might fear-if Love's sole claim Were to be happy: but true Love Takes joy as solace, not as aim, And looks beyond, and looks above; And sometimes through the bitterest strife first learns to live her highest life. Earth forges joy into a chain Till fettered Love forgets its strength, Restores its heritage at length, And bids Love rise again and be eternal, mighty, pure, and free. If then your future life should need Only by sorrow, from some stain Then you shall give, and I will take, this Crown of fire for Love's dear sake. Sept. 8th, 1860. CHISWICK PRESS-PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS, |