Page:The Poems and Prose remains of Arthur Hugh Clough, volume 2 (1869).djvu/33

 And e'en in hearts depraved to sin Some sudden, gracious influence, May give the long-lost good again, And wake within the dormant sense And love of good;—for mortal men, So but thou strive, thou soon shalt see Defeat itself is victory.

So be it: yet, O Good and Great, In whom in this bedarkened state I fain am struggling to believe, Let me not ever cease to grieve, Nor lose the consciousness of ill Within me;—and refusing still To recognise in things around What cannot truly there be found, Let me not feel, nor be it true, That, while each daily task I do, I still am giving day by day My precious things within away (Those thou didst give to keep as thine), And casting, do whate'er I may, My heavenly pearls to earthly swine.

wind is turned to bitter north, That was so soft a south before ; My sky, that shone so sunny bright, With foggy gloom is clouded o'er : My gay green leaves are yellow-black, Upon the dank autumnal floor; For love, departed once, comes back No more again, no more. Rh