Songs of Travel and Other Verses/To Mother Maryanne

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Songs of Travel and Other Verses (1896)
by Robert Louis Stevenson
To Mother Maryanne
1932233Songs of Travel and Other Verses — To Mother Maryanne1896Robert Louis Stevenson

XXXI

TO MOTHER MARYANNE

To see the infinite pity of this place,
The mangled limb, the devastated face,
The innocent sufferer smiling at the rod—
A fool were tempted to deny his God.
He sees, he shrinks. But if he gaze again,
Lo, beauty springing from the breast of pain!
He marks the sisters on the mournful shores;
And even a fool is silent and adores.

Guest House, Kalawao, Molokai.