Lucy Larcom

Burdened

No burden ever had I
That I would not have had;
Though times there were when I thought never again
To look up to heaven and be glad.
For, groaning and struggling on
With the throngs that laden go,
I saw, by the pack on my neighbor's back,
That mine was the lighter woe.

Unladen, heedless, unbent,
I never had known
That the fardel borne by each wight forlorn
Held something that was my own;
Something he bore for me
With a patient ignorance,
While my footprints lay as a blur on his way,
And hindered his soul's advance.

Just it was that on me
Some sorrow should fall;
No trouble alone is the trouble of one,
But each has a share in all.
And if on my aching neck
Another his burden laid,
Strength given for his day then he threw away,
Wherewith I was stronger made.

I know that we are not here
For our selfish ease;
The kingliest One that the earth has known
Lived not Himself to please.
And they who have learned of Him
How a burden can give rest,
And joyfully share the great human care, —
They have learned life's secret best.