Page:Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, 1846).djvu/90

Rh IF THIS BE ALL.

! if this indeed be all

That Life can show to me;

If on my aching brow may fall

No freshening dew from Thee,—

If with no brighter light than this

The lamp of hope may glow,

And I may only dream of bliss,

And wake to weary woe;

If friendship's solace must decay,

When other joys are gone,

And love must keep so far away,

While I go wandering on,—

Wandering and toiling without gain,

The slave of others' will,

With constant care, and frequent pain,

Despised, forgotten still;

Grieving to look on vice and sin,

Yet powerless to quell

The silent current from within,

The outward torrent's swell: