PUNISHMENT.

Mourner, that dost deserve thy mournfulness,

Call thyself punished, call the earth thy hell;

Say, “God is angry, and I earned it well —

I would not have him smile on wickedness:”

Say this, and straightway all thy grief grows less:—

“God rules at least, I find as prophets tell,

And proves it in this prison!” — then thy cell

Smiles with an unsuspected loveliness.

— “A prison — and yet from door and window-bar

I catch a thousand breaths of his sweet air!

Even to me his days and nights are fair!

He shows me many a flower and many a star!

And though I mourn and he is very far,

He does not kill the hope that reaches there!”