The Angel of Joy

There is no grief for me

Nor sadness any more;

For since I first knew thee

Great Joy has kept my door.

That angel of the calm

All-comprehending smile,

No menace can dismay,

No falsity beguile.

Out of the house of life

Before him fled away

Languor, regret, and strife

And sorrow on that day.

Grim fear, unmanly doubt,

And impotent despair

Went at his bidding forth

Among the things that were,—

Leaving a place all clean,

Resounding of the sea

And decked with forest green,

To be a home for thee.