Page:Poems Greenwell.djvu/227

Why should I ever leave Thee? which of the.se
Hath charm so sure?"

      "Yet hast Thou never feared
To gaze on these around, lest they should grow
 Through fairness to thy soul too much endeared?"
"Nay, this I fear not, since I learned to know
A truer fairness, lighting on the Rose
That doth within its folded breast enclose
All fragrance, being as the soul that glows
In every other flower, I wander free
About this earthly garden; sweet to me
Its blooms and safe! for they that of Thy wine
Have tasted, will not from its strength decline
For any meaner cup! they love not Thee
Enough, who fear that any else should be
Too much beloved!"

       So spake I over bold,
And knew not, Lord! that round Thy Tree of Life
 The serpent still doth twine with deadly fold;
 I knew not then the thrice-refinèd gold
Was thrid with baser clay; that still the strife
Goes on, till Death doth part 'twixt things accurst
And things of blessing; severing best and worst
That grow together—easy still to miss
And hard to win—Thou knowest, Lord, of this,
Thou only knowest, what are we to speak?
Yet, Thou hast spoken, "Blessed are the meek,"
And "they that mourn are blessed." I can touch