"Their only punishment, (as wrong, However sweet, must bear its brand,) Their only doom was this--that, long As the green earth and ocean stand, They both shall wander here--the same, Throughout all time, in heart and frame-- Still looking to that goal sublime, Whose light remote, but sure, they see; Pilgrims of Love, whose way is Time, Whose home is in Eternity! Subject, the while, to all the strife True Love encounters in this life-- The wishes, hopes, he breathes in vain; The chill, that turns his warmest sighs To earthly vapour, ere they rise; The doubt he feeds on, and the pain That in his very sweetness lies:-- Still worse, th' illusions that betray His footsteps to their shining brink; That tempt him, on his desert way Through the bleak world, to bend and drink, Where nothing meets his lips, alas!-- But he again must sighing pass On to that far-off home of peace, In which alone his thirst will cease. "All this they bear, but, not the less, Have moments rich in happiness-- Blest meetings, after many a day Of widowhood passed far away, When the loved face again is seen Close, close, with not a tear between-- Confidings frank, without control, Pour'd mutually from soul to soul; As free from any fear or doubt As is that light from chill or stain, The sun into the stars sheds out, To be by them shed back again!-- That happy minglement of hearts, Where, chang'd as chymic compounds are, Each with its own existence parts, To find a new one happier far! Such are their joys--and, crowning all, That blessed hope of the bright hour, When, happy and no more to fall, Their spirits shall, with freshen'd power, Rise up rewarded for their trust In Him, from whom all goodness springs, And shaking off earth's soiling dust From their emancipated wings, Wander for ever through those skies Of radiance, where Love never dies!" There is nothing else in the poem at all so good as this. And even this would gain considerably by condensation, even by simple excisions. But the writing is consistently polished, easy, and--short of inspiration--even excellent. The opening may be quoted for a fine example:--