Page:Poems Greenwell.djvu/35

And through each heart a pang shot strong,
 And on it darkly bore
A sense of somewhat that had long
 Been lost, unmissed before;
But now, to reach a guiding Hand,
 The Spirit groped and felt
Across the void, and for the land
 It j^earned where once it dwelt;
It longed to knit some broken troth,
 And then, as if it knew
All good below is but the show
 And shadow of the true,
Each thirsted sore to claim once more
 His birthright, and renew
A higher 'legiance, whence the soul
 Had lapsed and fallen through.

And there was Silence, such as falls
 On one that, musing lone
At midnight on a city's walls,
 Sees moonlight round him thrown,
So heavenly fair, ere he is ware
 His inner sense hath grown
More pure, and may not well endure
 To think on Pain and Sin,
On all that shines so fair without
 That lurks so foul within
Our mortal state, and ill can wait
 Those clearer Heights to win,