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.