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WHAT shall I do with all the days and hours | |
That must be counted ere I see thy face? | |
How shall I charm the interval that lowers | |
Between this time and that sweet time of grace? | |
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Shall I in slumber steep each weary sense, | 5 |
Weary with longing?shall I flee away | |
Into past days, and with some fond pretence | |
Cheat myself to forget the present day? | |
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Shall love for thee lay on my soul the sin | |
Of casting from me Gods great gift of time; | 10 |
Shall I these mists of memory locked within, | |
Leave, and forget lifes purposes sublime? | |
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Oh! how, or by what means, may I contrive | |
To bring the hour that brings thee back more near? | |
How may I teach my drooping hope to live | 15 |
Until that blessèd time, and thou art here? | |
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Ill tell thee: for thy sake, I will lay hold | |
Of all good aims, and consecrate to thee, | |
In worthy deeds, each moment that is told | |
While thou, belovèd one! art far from me. | 20 |
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For thee, I will arouse my thoughts to try | |
All heavenward flights, all high and holy strains; | |
For thy dear sake I will walk patiently | |
Through these long hours, nor call their minutes pains. | |
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I will this dreary blank of absence make | 25 |
A noble task-time, and will therein strive | |
To follow excellence, and to oertake | |
More good than I have won, since yet I live. | |
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So may this doomed time build up in me | |
A thousand graces which shall thus be thine; | 30 |
So may my love and longing hallowed be, | |
And thy dear thought an influence divine. | |
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