Page:Poems, now first collected, Stedman, 1897.djvu/77

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

FATHER JARDINE

And envy it,—this furrows deep and wide
Its grooves in thee—in me.


Borne, always borne—what martyrdoms assoil
The laden soul from hostile chance and blind?
Nor time can loose the adamantine coil,
Nor Azrael unbind.


Redemption for the priest! but naught their gain
Who forfeit still the one thing asked of Earth,
Knowing all penance light beside this pain—
All pleasure, nothing worth.

1894

57