Verses (Baughan)/The Neighbour
THE NEIGHBOUR
[“῾Ιν᾽ αὐτὸς ἦν πρόσουρος.”—Sophocles.]
“Lonely, lonely, O life!” I said,
“This path thou givest me to tread,
Sadly I watch my fellow-kind
Along the level roadway wind,
Step mating step, and arms entwined.
I from my uphill rut may see
How readily, for weal, for woe,
They win and render sympathy;
But I for ever friendless go”—
Saith a small voice: “Oh, say not so!
Hast thou not me?”
“Give me but leave to play my part,
And be consoled, thou sick at heart!
Ay, upon dreary errands sent
With wrested will, and footsteps bent
Into a byway, be content!
One is but one, two make a world;
And two may laugh where one must weep.
Whither is bubble Sorrow whirl’d
When half is given a friend to keep?
Give me my half, whose life so deep
In thine lies furl’d!
“Hast heavy trouble? I, too, bear it!
Fugitive joy? Yet I, too, share it!
The dull ache of the listless sense,
The fretted fire, the want immense,
The rending passion, the pang intense—
Friend! I know all their influence,
Comrade! take heart!”
O subtle bliss,
O Hope, thro’ desolation stealing
Like water thro’ a wilderness
With comfort and delicious healing!
Who renders me such fellow-feeling?
—My own self ’tis!