Page:The poems of George Eliot (Crowell, 1884).djvu/344

314 All ways I know of to be cleansed and pure.

I would not sink where evil spirits are.

There's perfect goodness somewhere: so I strive.

You were the better for that pilgrimage

You made before? The shrine is beautiful;

And then you saw fresh country all the way.

.

Yes, that is true. And ever since that time

The world seems greater, and the Holy Church

More wonderful. The blessed pictures all,

The heavenly images with books and wings,

Are company to me through the day and night.

The time! the time! It never seemed far back,

Only to father's father and his kin

That lived before him. But the time stretched out

After that pilgrimage: I seemed to see

Far back, and yet I knew time lay behind,

As there are countries lying still behind

The highest mountains, there in Switzerland.

Oh, it is great to go on pilgrimage!

Perhaps some neighbors will be pilgrims too,

And you can start together in a band.

.

Not from these hills: people are busy here.

The beasts want tendance. One who is not missed

Can go and pray for others who must work.

I owe it to all neighbors, young and old;

For they are good past thinking—lads and girls

Given to mischief, merry naughtiness,

Quiet it, as the hedgehogs smooth their spines,