Poems (Procter)/A Chain
HE bond that links our souls together;Will it last through stormy weather?Will it moulder and decayAs the long hours pass away?Will it stretch if Fate divide us,When dark and weary hours have tried us?O, if it look too poor and slight,Let us break the links to-night!
A CHAIN.
HE bond that links our souls together;Will it last through stormy weather?Will it moulder and decayAs the long hours pass away?Will it stretch if Fate divide us,When dark and weary hours have tried us?O, if it look too poor and slight,Let us break the links to-night!It was not forged by mortal hands,Or clasped with golden bars and bands;Save thine and mine, no other eyesThe slender link can recognize:In the bright light it seems to fade—And it is hidden in the shade;While Heaven nor Earth have never heard,Or solemn vow, or plighted word.
Yet what no mortal hand could make,No mortal power can ever break;What words or vows could never do,No words or vows can make untrue;And if to other hearts unknownThe dearer and the more our own,Because too sacred and divineFor other eyes, save thine and mine.
And see, though slender, it is madeOf Love and Trust, and can they fade? While, if too slight it seem, to bearThe breathings of the summer air,We know that it could bear the weightOf a most heavy heart of late,And as each day and hour flewThe stronger for its burthen grew.
And, too, we know and feel againIt has been sanctified by pain,For what God deigns to try with sorrowHe means not to decay to-morrow;But through that fiery trial lastWhen earthly ties and bonds are past;What slighter things dare not endureWill make our Love more safe and pure.
Love shall be purified by Pain,And Pain be soothed by Love again:So let us now take heart and goCheerfully on, through joy and woe;No change the summer sun can bring,Or the inconstant skies of spring,Or the bleak winter's stormy weather,For we shall meet them, Love, together!