Poems (Terry, 1861)/Loss and gain

by Rose Terry Cooke

LOSS AND GAIN.

Hope went singing southward,
And left me silent here;
I did not scorn nor sorrow,
I had no smile nor tear;
For out of the door beside her,
Went her serving-maiden, Fear.

Where there comes no morning,
There never is any night;
The clouds will fly from heaven
When the sun shall lose its light;
And he who wants the pleasure
Wants the pain of sight.

Rain and rainbow vanish,
But the sky is undismayed;
Hope and Fear may leave us,
And the price of life be paid;
Greater than any passion
Is the soul that God hath made.

Go! walk the world together,
And trouble the hearts of men;
Go paint and pluck the blossoms
That never shall bloom again;
But dread the day of Heaven:
Ye both shall perish then!