Poetical Fragments from Ethel Churchill Volume III/Lost Lessons

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

CHAPTER XIII.

A DECLARATION.

I cannot choose, but marvel at the way
In which we pass our lives from day to day;
Learning strange lessons in the human heart;
And yet, like shadows, letting them depart.
Is misery so familiar, that we bring
Ourselves to view it as "a usual thing?"
We do too little feel each other's pain;
We do too much relax the social chain
That binds us to each other; slight the care
There is for grief, in which we have no share.

Blanchard’s title is:

LOST LESSONS

From The Rose in The Golden Violet