dots-menu
×

Home  »  An American Anthology, 1787–1900  »  1524 My Old Counselor

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By GertrudeHall

1524 My Old Counselor

THE SUN looked from his everlasting skies,

He laughed into my daily-dying eyes;

He said to me, the brutal shining Sun:

“Poor, fretful, hot, rebellious, little one!

“Thou shalt not find it, yet there shall be truth;

Thou shalt grow old, but yet there shall be youth;

Thou shalt not do, yet great deeds shall be done,—

Believe me, child, I am an old, old Sun!

“Thou mayst go blind, yet fair will bloom the spring;

Thou mayst not hear them, but the birds will sing;

Thou mayst despair, no less will hope be rife;

Thou must lie dead, but many will have life.

“Thou mayst declare of love: it is a dream!

Yet long with love, my love, the Earth will teem:

Let not thy foolish heart be borne so low,—

Lift up thy heart! Exult that it is so!”