Poems (Jackson)/Doubt
For works with similar titles, see Doubt.
DOUBT.
HEY bade me cast the thing away,They pointed to my hands all bleeding,They listened not to all my pleading; The thing I meant I could not say; I knew that I should rue the day If once I cast that thing away. I grasped it firm, and bore the pain;The thorny husks I stripped and scattered;If I could reach its heart, what mattered If other men saw not my gain, Or even if I should be slain? I knew the risks; I chose the pain,
O, had I cast that thing away,I had not found what most I cherish,A faith without which I should perish,— The faith which, like a kernel, lay Hid in the husks which on that day My instinct would not throw away!