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How Strange our Lives!
So mean the cause, the effect so great:—
Some single word, some simple deed,
Which at the time we scarcely heed,
Opens the door, or shuts the gate
On our high hopes. We wander far,
Down loveless vistas, or with Love,
Dreaming we lie within the grove.
How few, alas! who gain that star
Which shines on each one from his birth,
Lit with strange meanings, mystical,
Pointed with lurid fires which shall
Mislead or guide us upon earth;
Until we win that far-off heaven,
Across the cold, blue, glacier-steep.
How few, alas! their foothold keep,
And to how few Faith's wings are given.
