Rosemary and Pansies/Rest

by Bertram Dobell

REST

Rest! Is there any word that may compare
With that most blessèd sound?
Can Love, Joy, Hope, or even Rapture share
Its blissfulness profound?
Love's fickle, Joy lasts not, and Hope deceives,
Redoubled sadness ever follows Rapture:
'Tis Rest alone that perfect peace achieves,
And Eden doth recapture.

Time was I gloried in the thought of strife,
And with a dauntless breast
Opposed myself to all the storms of life—
But now I ask but Rest!
Best gift man may receive or fate bestow,
The only one that never can deceive;
The anodyne that every pain and woe
Is fitted to relieve.

Rest! yea, if only in the grave is Rest,
Still would I seek it there,
To gain a boon beyond all blessings blest,
So far beyond compare:
For there alone no sorrow can molest,
No fearful dreams affright,
No cancer-passion prey upon the breast,
No evil fortune smite.