WHEN dark thy childhood, tears and grief have filled

Thy swelling heart, that understood too much,

Yet not enough to be forgiving, when

The sun was pale, and darkness lonely, when

The fear of unknown evil made thy lips

Turn cold, and wonder changed to horror, then

To dumb despair, to childhood's hopelessness,

More hopeless than old age's iron clutch

Of unbelief, the shadow of the past

Will cast a pall o'er all thy life, then say:

Go down, Remembrance, into Lethe, go!

When work was hard and sacrifice in vain,

And stones were hurled at thee, thy flowers trodden

Into the soil, that, soaked with all thy blood,

Could not resist, and giving way would swallow

Thy noblest thoughts, and teach thee to undo

Thyself, gainsay thyself, as if a coward

Were crouching on thy shoulders, making thee

Believe that all thy heroism was

A sham—then say: Go down to Lethe, Thought,

And darken not the hour when I rise

Out of myself, out of the past, into

The open day of wide forgetfulness.

When shame has crept into the rocky strength,

Into the pure recess a spotless soul

Had lent thee, and with fiery coals has burnt

A mark no rivers wash away, no winds

Can cool, that sends a shudder through thy heart,

Like snakes of cold disgust, then say again:

Go down to Lethe, not to rise and sting.

But when those eyes, that were thy sun, are shut,

When blind with tears thy gaze hath yet behold

The angel wings that carried through unknown

Untold of space thy life, thy heart, thy hope—

No Lethe then! And no forgetfulness!

But open wide thy soul: It is the sun,

The sun that sends its beauteous rays into

The dark, into the cold, into the night

And terror of thy life. If grief hath ploughed

The soil, fear not! The corn is rising, young

And green and full of hope; the sun hath called;

The sun shines full into that heart that was

So torn, so weak, that could not lift itself

Unto the heavens. They are open now,

Flooded with light; take not thine eyes away,

Bend not thy look unto the earth again,

But rise on shining wings toward the rays

That draw thee, call thee, bear thee to the light!