If only—discord spared sweet music’s closes,
If only—blight and canker did not haste
To mar the lily’s white, the stainless roses!
If only—sentinels beside the ways,
Death, suffering, and sin stood not to daunt us,
If shadows from the vanished yesterdays
And fears for the to-morrows did not haunt us.
If only!—human grief unceasingly
Repeats in myriad tongues the wistful sighing.
Mighty and mournful is the mingled cry,