James Russell Lowell

* * *

  I fain would give to thee the loveliest things,
  For lovely things belong to thee of right,
  And thou hast been as peaceful to my sight,
  As the still thoughts that summer twilight brings;
  Beneath the shadow of thine angel wings
  O let me live! O let me rest in thee,
  Growing to thee more and more utterly,
  Upbearing and upborn, till outward things
  Are only as they share in thee a part!
  Look kindly on me, let thy holy eyes
  Bless me from the deep fulness of thy heart;
  So shall my soul in its right strength arise,
  And nevermore shall pine and shrink and start,
  Safe-sheltered in thy full souled sympathies.