Into that sad obscure sequestered state
Where God unmakes but to remake the soul
He else made first in vain: which must not be."A
A: The Ring and the Book—The Pope, 2129-2132.
This phrase, "which must not be," seems to me to carry in it the irrefragable conviction of the poet himself. The same faith in the future appears in the words in which Pompilia addresses her priest.
"O lover of my life, O soldier-saint,
No work begun shall ever pause for death!
Love will be helpful to me more and more
I' the coming course, the new path I must tread,
My weak hand in thy strong hand, strong for that!"B