What heart with waiting broken Shall speak the word unspoken, And who by tears betoken The wisdom he has won ? Or say to him that grieveth, "The hope thy soul believeth Perchance, perchance, deceiveth. But other hope is none. "Ay, deep beyond thy telling A bitter fount is welling, Far off a bell is knelling The ruin of thy youth : Hide, hide the future's rising With dreams and thin disguising, ''" Can any man's devising Be sadder than the truth?" Then I with hope undying Will rise and make replying, ''" Will answer to his sighing In speech that is a sigh: ''" "The chains that fix and fetter, ''" That chafe the soul and fret her, ''" What man can know them better, O brother-men, than I? "And yet ''" my burden bearing, The Five Wounds ever wearing, I too in my despairing Have seen Him as I say : Gross darkness all around Him Enwrapt Him and enwound Him,- O late at night I found Him And lost Him in the day. "But bolder grown and braver At sight of One to save her, My soul no more shall waver With wings no longer furled. But, cut with one decision From doubt and men's derision. That sweet and vanished vision Shall follow thro' the world." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NEW ENGLAND'S DEAD! by ISAAC MCLELLAN JR. SONNET: 14. ON THE RELIGIOUS MEMORY OF CATHERINE THOMASON by JOHN MILTON AN ODE IN TIME OF HESITATION by WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY SHADOWS IN THE WATER by THOMAS TRAHERNE TO DEATH OF HIS LADY by FRANCOIS VILLON |