24
SELF-COMMUNION.
And she will prove a surer guide
Than those sweet instinct of our youth.
Thou that hath known such anguish sore
In weeping where thou couldst not bless,
Canst thou that softness so deplore—
That suffering, shrinking tenderness?
Thou that hast felt what cankering care
A loving heart is doomed to bear,
Say, how canst thou regret
That fires unfed must fall away,
Long droughts can dry the softest clay,
And cold will cold beget?”
Than those sweet instinct of our youth.
Thou that hath known such anguish sore
In weeping where thou couldst not bless,
Canst thou that softness so deplore—
That suffering, shrinking tenderness?
Thou that hast felt what cankering care
A loving heart is doomed to bear,
Say, how canst thou regret
That fires unfed must fall away,
Long droughts can dry the softest clay,
And cold will cold beget?”
