Rain is better than golden weather,
When the heart is dulled with a dumb despair.
Dead leaves lie where they walked together,
The hammock is gone, and the rustic chair.
Let bleak snows cover the whole world over—
It will never again seem fair.
Time laughs lightly at youth’s sad ‘Never,’
Summer shall come again, smiling once more,
High o’er the cold world the sun shines for ever,
Hearts that seemed dead are alive at the core.
Oh, but the pain of it—oh, but the gain of it,
After the shadows pass o’er.
WISHES
Whatever you want, if you wish for it long,
With constant yearning and fervent desire,
If your wish soars upward on wings so strong
That they never grow languid and never tire,—
Why, over the storm clouds and out of the dark
It shall come flying some day to you.
As the dove with the olive branch flew to the ark,
And the dream you have cherished—it shall come true.
But lest much rapture shall make you mad,
Or too bright sunshine should strike you blind,
Along with your blessing a something sad
Shall come like a shadow that follows behind.
Something unwelcome and unforeseen,
Yet of your hope and your wish, a part,
Shall stand like a sentinel in between
The perfect joy and the human heart.
I wished for a cloudless and golden day;
It came, but I looked from my window to see
A giant shadow which seemed to say,
‘If you ask for the sunlight you must take me.’
Oh! a wonderful thing is the human will,
When seeking one purpose, and serving one end;
But I think it is wiser to just sit still,
And accept whatever the gods may send.