Page:Poems Whitney.djvu/47

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tasso.
41
The rock meets the fern's soft caress,
And that flower that meek salutation
Sends starward, looks timid to earth.

Ah! the lark in the cloud-rack bathes,
And drinks at the air's still fountains,
And is he not thirstless and pure?

O for life that is life!—

Joy in being; hopes o'er-filling
The blessed to-day with to-morrow,
Faith, the queenly, that rules all hap;

Love, the ever-compassionate,
The dear love of man and of woman,
That affection whose sweets hide no sting!

O bitter! that ever the heart,
Still asking impossible treasure,
Should cast from it aught that is loving!