Let me look always forward. Never back. Was I not formed for progress? Otherwise With onward pointing feet and searching eyes Would God have set me squarely on the track Up which we all must labour with life’s pack? Yonder the goal of all this travel lies. What matters it, if yesterday the skies With light were golden, or with clouds were black? I would not lose to-morrow’s glow of dawn By peering backward after sun’s long set. New hope is fairer than an old regret; Let me pursue my journey and press on— Nor tearful eyed, stand ever in one spot, A briny statue like the wife of Lot. p. 81IN ENGLAND p. 81 In England there are wrongs, no doubt, Which should be righted; so men say, Who seek to weed earth’s garden out And give the roses right of way. Yes, right of way to fruit and rose, Where now but poison ivy grows. In England there is wide unrest They tell me, who should know. And yet I saw but hedges gaily dressed, And eyes, where love and kindness met. Yes, love and kindness, met and made Soft sunshine, even in the shade. In England there are haunting things Which follow one to other lands; p. 82Like some pervading scent that clings To laces, touched by vanished hands. Yes, touched by vanished hands, that gave A fragrance which defies the grave. p. 82 In England, centuries of art Give common things a mellow tone, And wake old memories in the heart Of other lives the soul has known. Yes, other lives in some past age Start forth from canvas, or from page. In England there are simple joys The modern world has left all sweet; In London’s heart are nooks, where noise Has entered but with slippered feet; Yes, entered softly. Friend, believe, To part from England is to grieve. p. 83KARMA p. 83 I We cannot choose our sorrows. One there was Who, reverent of soul, and strong with trust, Cried, ‘God, though Thou shouldst bow me to the dust, Yet will I praise thy everlasting laws. Beggared, my faith would never halt or pause, But sing Thy glory, feasting on a crust. Only one boon, one precious boon I must Demand of Thee, O opulent great Cause. Let Love stay with me, constant to the end, Though fame pass by and poverty pursue.’ With freighted hold her life ship onward sailed; The world gave wealth, and pleasure, and a friend,
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