OH God! if I do my duty And walk in the thorny way, Will you pay me with heavens of beauty, Millions of lives away? Will you give me the music of heaven, And the joy that none understands, In place of what life would have given If I had held out my hands? I have lived in a narrow prison, I have writhed 'neath a bitter creed, And I dare to say that no heaven can pay The renounced dream and deed, But when my life's portal closes, If you have no heaven to spare God! give me a garden of roses, And some one to walk with there. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE LITTLE KITTENS (A CAT'S TALE, WITH ADDITIONS) by ELIZA LEE CABOT FOLLEN INLAND by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY THE HOLLY TREE by ROBERT SOUTHEY LOST AT SEA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH ON MICHAEL ANGELO by WASHINGTON ALLSTON ADMONITION by FREDERIKA BLACKNER WHOM EARTH HAS TAUGHT: PROSPICENCE by MARGARET PERKINS BRIGGS |