FAITH

When I see truth, do I seek truth

Only that I may things denote,

And, rich by striving, deck my youth

As with a vain unusual coat?

Or seek I truth for other ends:

That she in other hearts may stir,

That even my most familiar friends

May turn from me to look on her?

So I this day myself was asking;

Out of the window skies were blue

And Thames was in the sunlight basking;

My thoughts coiled inwards like a screw.

I watched them anxious for a while;

Then quietly, as I did watch,

Spread in my soul a sudden smile:

I knew that no firm thing they'd catch.

And I remembered if I leapt

Upon the bosom of the wind

It would sustain me; question slept;

I felt that I had almost sinned.