THE BURDEN

The burden that I bear would be no less

Should I cry out against it; though I fill

The weary day with sound of my distress,

It were my burden still.

The burden that I bear may be no more

For all I bear it silently and stay

Sometimes to laugh and listen at a door

Where joy keeps holiday.

I ask no more save only this may be —

On life's long road, where many comrades fare,

One shall not guess, though he keep step with me,

The burden that I bear.