Page:Preludes, Meynell, 1875.djvu/119

Rh Sorrow for ruined and for desolate days.

Failing in penitence, I, who fail in all,

Leave all my thoughts alone, and lift mine eyes

Quietly to One who makes amends for me.

Peace, O my soul, for thou hast failed in all:

(One thought, at last, that I might take to Heaven!)

It's well I never guessed this thing before,—

I mean the weakness and the littleness

Of that which by God's grace begins in me.

Oh, earthly hopes and wishes, stay with me

(He will be patient); linger, O my loves

And phases of myself, and play with this

New life of grace (as He whose gift it is

Played with the children, a child). How could I bear

To see how little is perfect yet—a speck

If all things else should suddenly wither away?

(And yet they wither away, they wither away.)

Less than I knew, less than I know am I,

Returning childless, but, O Father, a child.

She therefore turned unto the Eastern hills,

Thrilled with a west wind sowing stars. She saw