Page:Preludes, Meynell, 1875.djvu/110

74 Shall I not bear myself and my own life?

—A little life, O Lord, a little sorrow.

And I remember once when I was ill

That the whole world seemed breaking through with me,

Who lay so light and still; stillness availed not,

My weakness being a thing of power, I thought.

"Come to the Port to-morrow," says the letter,

And little more, except a few calm words,

Intended to prepare me (and I guess,

I guess for what). He never was too kind,

This man, the one i' the world, kin to my son,

Who knew my crime, who watched me with cold eyes,

And stayed me with calm hands, and hid the thing,

For horror more than pity; and took my son;

And mercifully let me ebb away

In this grey town of undesigned grey lives,

Five years already. To-day he sends for me.

And now I will prevent the dawn with prayers.