Poem by James Russell Lowell

* * *

  So may it be, but let it not be so,
  O, let it not be so with thee, my friend;
  Be of good courage, bear up to the end,
  And on thine after way rejoicing go!
  We all must suffer, if we aught would know;
  Life is a teacher stern, and wisdom's crown
  Is oft a crown of thorns, whence, trickling down,
  Blood, mixed with tears, blinding her eyes doth flow
  But Time, a gentle nurse, shall wipe away
  This bloody sweat, and thou shalt find on earth,
  That woman is not all in all to Love,
  But, living by a new and second birth,
  Thy soul shall see all things below, above,
  Grow bright and brighter to the perfect day.

1. Fancies about a Rosebud, Pressed in an Old Copy of Spenser
2. Fourth of July Ode
3. My Friend, Adown Life's Valley, Hand in Hand
4. Verse Cannot Say How Beautiful Thou Art
5. Sayest Thou, Most Beautiful, That Thou Wilt Wear

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