Page:The complete poems of Emily Bronte.djvu/210

154 XLI

sun is near meridian height,

And my sun sinks in endless night;

But if that night bring only sleep,

Then I shall rest, while thou wilt weep.

And say not that my early tomb

Will give me to a darker doom;

Shall these long agonising years

Be punished by eternal tears?

No: that I feel can never be;

A God of hate could hardly bear

To watch through all eternity,

His own creation's dread despair!

The pangs that wring my mortal breast,

Must claim from Justice lasting rest;

Enough, that this departing breath

Will pass in anguish worse than death.

If I have sinned; long, long ago

That sin was purified by woe.

I have suffered on thro' night and day;

I've trod a dark and frightful way.

Earth's wilderness was round me spread,

Heaven's tempests beat my naked head;

I did not kneel; in vain would prayer

Have sought one gleam of mercy there!