Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/221

Rh We shall not then deny a course

To every thought the mass ignore;

We shall not then call hardness force,

Nor lightness wisdom any more.

Then, in the eternal Father's smile,

Our soothed, encouraged souls will dare

To seem as free from pride and guile,

As good, as generous, as they are.

Then we shall know our friends! Though much

Will have been lost,—the help in strife,

The thousand sweet, still joys of such

As hand in hand face earthly life,—

Though these be lost, there will be yet

A sympathy august and pure;

Ennobled by a vast regret,

And by contrition sealed thrice sure.

And we, whose ways were unlike here,

May then more neighboring courses ply;

May to each other be brought near,

And greet across infinity.

How sweet, unreached by earthly jars,

My sister! to maintain with thee

The hush among the shining stars,

The calm upon the moonlit sea!

How sweet to feel, on the boon air,

All our unquiet pulses cease!

To feel that nothing can impair

The gentleness, the thirst for peace,—