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the church of the gesù.
No wistful loving child might brook
T'explore for love that changeless look,—
A bridgeless, spanless gulf must lie
'Twixt him and our humanity.
T'explore for love that changeless look,—
A bridgeless, spanless gulf must lie
'Twixt him and our humanity.
I turned away, and through the crowd,
As fast as blinding tears allowed,
Pressed on—the struggle was in vain;
Girt in by that strong living chain,
I could not fly, and yet I felt
My very soul within me melt.
Though alien my clime, my faith,
My human sympathy was strong;
But, like all human sympathy,
Alas! how vain in life or death!
In life, we may not shield from wrong
Our best beloved—in death dare we
Beside them stand to soothe or save,
In that dread struggle of the soul
When sweeping onwards wave on wave
Th' eternal billows o'er them roll?
As fast as blinding tears allowed,
Pressed on—the struggle was in vain;
Girt in by that strong living chain,
I could not fly, and yet I felt
My very soul within me melt.
Though alien my clime, my faith,
My human sympathy was strong;
But, like all human sympathy,
Alas! how vain in life or death!
In life, we may not shield from wrong
Our best beloved—in death dare we
Beside them stand to soothe or save,
In that dread struggle of the soul
When sweeping onwards wave on wave
Th' eternal billows o'er them roll?
We know that o'er that form so pale,
So calm, so motionless, so still,
So calm, so motionless, so still,
