Poems (Procter)/Borrowed Thoughts

by Adelaide Anne Procter

BORROWED THOUGHTS.

I. FROM " LAVATER."

RUST him little who doth raise To one height both great and small,And sets the sacred crown of praise, Smiling, on the head of all.

Trust him less who looks around To censure all with scornful eyes,And in everything has found Something that he dare despise.

But for one who stands apart, Stirred by naught that can befall,With a cold, indifferent heart,— Trust him least and last of all.

II. FROM "PHANTASTES."

HAVE a bitter Thought, a Snake That used to sting my life to pain.I strove to cast it far away,But every night and every day It crawled back to my heart again!

It was in vain to live or strive, To think or sleep, to work or pray;At last I bade this thing accursedGnaw at my heart, and do its worst, And so I let it have its way.

Thus said I, "I shall never fall Into a false and dreaming peace,And then awake, with sudden start,To feel it biting at my heart, For now the pain can never cease."

But I gained more; for I have found That such a snake's envenomed charmMust always, always find a part,Deep in the centre of my heart, Which it can never wound or harm.

It is coiled round my heart to-day. It sleeps at times, this cruel snake,And while it sleeps it never stings:—Hush! let us talk of other things, Lest it should hear me and awake.

II. FROM "LOST ALICE."

ES, dear, our Love is slain;In the cold grave for evermore it lies,  Never to wake again,Or light our sorrow with its starry eyes:  And so—regret is vain.

  One hour of pain and dread,We killed our Love, we took its life away  With the false words we said;And so we watch it, since that cruel day,  Silent, and cold, and dead.

  We should have seen it shineLong years beside us. Time and Death might try  To touch that life divine,Whose strength could every other stroke defy  Save only thine and mine.

  No longing can restoreOur dead again. Vain are the tears we weep,  And vainly we deploreOur buried Love: its grave lies dark and deep  Between us evermore.

IV. FROM * * *

ITHIN the kingdom of my SoulI bid you enter, Love, to-day;Submit my life to your control,And give my Heart up to your sway.

My Past whose light and life is flown,Shall live through memory for you still;Take all my Present for your own,And mould my Future to your will.

One only thought remains apart,And will forever so remain;There is one Chamber in my heartWhere even you might knock in vain,

A haunted Chamber:—long agoI closed it, and I cast the keyWhere deep and bitter waters flow,Into a vast and silent sea.

Dear, it is haunted. All the restIs yours; but I have shut that doorForever now. 'T is even bestThat I should enter it no more.

No more. It is not well to stayWith ghosts; their very look would scareYour joyous, loving smile away;—So never try to enter there.

Check, if you love me, all regretThat this one thought remains apart:—Now let us smile, dear, and forgetThe haunted Chamber in my Heart.