Alone 'mid all the sea.

A leper to a lonely coast,

I fled from all I cherished most;

And wildly, with a bleeding boast,

I clasped my agony ...

Sad nature strained the leash in vain,

And flying, fled not; ever the chain

Of the Fear that followed; ever again

Relentless pity; guardian pain ...

Like torturing dreams the days went by,

With all save self denied;

And Godward went man's desolate cry,

That Christ Himself had cried:

Alone each soul upon its tree

Cried to its kin,—but over me

The darkness that crushed Calvary

When God was crucified.

The present lost, I found, aghast,

A dying heart, a deathless past;

And, ever nigh, and mocking me,

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