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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 23 by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913)

First Line: IS THERE A HAND MORE TENDER THAN THE HAND
Last Line: GATHER OUR STREAM-HEARTS TO THINE OCEAN-BREAST.

Is there a hand more tender than the hand
Of Woman? Are there bountiful deep eyes
Whence the eternal pity never flies?
Is there a God within some deathless land?
And can he bend and hear and understand
From heights of awful unapproached clear skies?
Is there a heart of love that never dies,—
Sweet beyond wish, beyond our yearning grand?—

O God of human hearts,—if God there be,—
Blend thou thy great immortal soul with ours.
We seek thee, as a river seeks the sea,
Weary of all the old inland sun-smit bowers.—
Absorb us, cleanse us, save us,—give us rest.
Gather our stream-hearts to thine ocean-breast.



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