Page:A Year's Life.djvu/129

Rh By a sure insight knowing where to cling,

And where it clingeth never withering;—

These are Irené's dowry, which no fate

Can shake from their serene, deep-builded state.

In-seeing sympathy to hers, which chasteneth

No less than loveth, scorning to be bound

With fear of blame, and yet which ever hasteneth

To pour the balm of kind looks on the wound,

If they be wounds which such sweet teaching makes,

Giving itself a pang for others' sakes;

No want of faith, that chills with sidelong eye,

Hath she; no jealousy, no Levite pride

That passeth by upon the other side;

For in her soul there never dwelt a lie.

Right from the hand of God her spirit came

Unstained, and she hath ne'er forgotten whence

It came, nor wandered far from thence,

But laboreth to keep her still the same,

Near to her place of birth, that she may not

Soil her white raiment with an earthly spot.