Poems (Hoffman)/We Cannot Know Each Other

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

WE CANNOT KNOW EACH OTHER.

We cannot know each other,
 Though bound by strongest ties;
And though, oft with deep meaning,
 Soul to kindred soul replies.
Though we mingle in life's harvest,
 And our sheaves together glean,
Yet though no discord may part us,
 A great gulf is fixed between.

We cannot know each other,
 Little worlds we have apart;
From the busy world around us,
 Hidden deep in mind and heart.
Peopled with a thousand feelings,
 Aspirations, thoughts, desires,
Unrevealed to foe or loved ones,
 Yet alive with quenchless fires.

We cannot know each other,
 And the great world may not see
If our souls are clad in blackness
 Or in snowy purity.
Yet we mold that hidden empire,
 In the sight of higher powers,
To a wilderness of thistles,
 Or a paradise of flowers.

We cannot know each other,
 And we know the plan is wise,
For so much of inward feeling,
 Outward action underlies.
Love might die like withered blossoms,
 Friendship's charm no more exist,
If from every hidden motive,
 Were removed the shadowy mist.

Shall we ever know each other?
 Oh! the boundless realm of thought!
Oh! the living worlds around us
 That we comprehended not!
When we reach the many mansions,
 And in angel anthems share;
Without fear of fault or blemish,
 We can know each other there.