Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/220

182 I too have felt the load I bore

In a too strong emotion's sway;

I too have wished, no woman more,

This starting, feverish heart away.

I too have longed for trenchant force,

And will like a dividing spear;

Have praised the keen, unscrupulous course,

Which knows no doubt, which feels no fear.

But in the world I learnt, what there

Thou too wilt surely one day prove,—

That will, that energy, though rare,

Are yet far, far less rare than love.

Go, then! till time and fate impress

This truth on thee, be mine no more!

They will! for thou, I feel, not less

Than I, wast destined to this lore.

We school our manners, act our parts;

But He, who sees us through and through.

Knows that the bent of both our hearts

Was to be gentle, tranquil, true.

And though we wear out life, alas!

Distracted as a homeless wind,

In beating where we must not pass,

In seeking what we shall not find;

Yet we shall one day gain, life past,

Clear prospect o'er our being's whole;

Shall see ourselves, and learn at last

Our true affinities of soul.