Page:The Poems and Prose remains of Arthur Hugh Clough, volume 2 (1869).djvu/28

 Into a deed e’en then advanced, wherein God, unidentified, was thought-of still.

Though to the vilest things beneath the moon For poor Ease’ sake I give away my heart, And for the moment’s sympathy let part My sight and sense of truth, Thy precious boon, My painful earnings, lost, all lost, as soon, Almost, as gained: and though aside I start, Belie Thee daily, hourly,—still Thou art, Art surely as in heaven the sun at noon; How much so e’er I sin, whate’er I do Of evil, still the sky above is blue, The stars look down in beauty as before: It is enough to walk as best we may, To walk, and sighing, dream of that blest day When ill we cannot quell shall be no more.

Well, well,—Heaven bless you all from day to day! Forgiveness too, or e’er we part, from each, As I do give it. so must I beseech: I owe all much, much more than I can pay; Therefore it is I go; how could I stay Where every look commits me to fresh debt, And to pay little I must borrow yet? Enough of this already, now away! With silent woods and hills untenanted Let me go commune; under thy sweet gloom, O kind maternal Darkness, hide my head: The day may come I yet may re-assume My place, and, these tired limbs recruited, seek The task for which I now am all too weak.