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The Pang More Sharp than All[;] An Allegory

  1. 1He too has flitted from his secret nest,
  2. 2Hope's last and dearest child without a name!--
  3. 3Has flitted from me, like the warmthless flame,
  4. 4That makes false promise of a place of rest
  5. 5To the tired Pilgrim's still believing mind;--
  6. 6Or like some Elfin Knight in kingly court,
  7. 7Who having won all guerdons in his sport,
  8. 8Glides out of view, and whither none can find!
  1. 9Yes! he hath flitted from me--with what aim,
  2. 10Or why, I know not! 'Twas a home of bliss,
  3. 11And he was innocent, as the pretty shame
  4. 12Of babe, that tempts and shuns the menaced kiss,
  5. 13From its twy-cluster'd hiding place of snow!
  6. 14Pure as the babe, I ween, and all aglow
  7. 15As the dear hopes, that swell the mother's breast--
  8. 16Her eyes down gazing o'er her claspéd charge;--
  9. 17Yet gay as that twice happy father's kiss,
  10. 18That well might glance aside, yet never miss,
  11. 19Where the sweet mark emboss'd so sweet a targe--
  12. 20Twice wretched he who hath been doubly blest!
  1. 21Like a loose blossom on a gusty night
  2. 22He flitted from me--and has left behind
  3. 23(As if to them his faith he ne'er did plight)
  4. 24Of either sex and answerable mind
  5. 25Two playmates, twin-births of his foster-dame:--
  6. 26The one a steady lad (Esteem he hight)
  7. 27And Kindness is the gentler sister's name.
  8. 28Dim likeness now, though fair she be and good,
  9. 29Of that bright Boy who hath us all forsook;--
  10. 30But in his full-eyed aspect when she stood,
  11. 31And while her face reflected every look,
  12. 32And in reflection kindled--she became
  13. 33So like Him, that almost she seem'd the same!
  1. 34Ah! he is gone, and yet will not depart!--
  2. 35Is with me still, yet I from him exiled!
  3. 36For still there lives within my secret heart
  4. 37The magic image of the magic Child,
  5. 38Which there he made up-grow by his strong art,
  6. 39As in that crystal orb--wise Merlin's feat,--
  7. 40The wondrous 'World of Glass,' wherein inisled
  8. 41All long'd-for things their beings did repeat;--
  9. 42And there he left it, like a Sylph beguiled,
  10. 43To live and yearn and languish incomplete!
  1. 44Can wit of man a heavier grief reveal?
  2. 45Can sharper pang from hate or scorn arise?--
  3. 46Yes! one more sharp there is that deeper lies,
  4. 47Which fond Esteem but mocks when he would heal.
  5. 48Yet neither scorn nor hate did it devise,
  6. 49But sad compassion and atoning zeal!
  7. 50One pang more blighting-keen than hope betray'd!
  8. 51And this it is my woeful hap to feel,
  9. 52When, at her Brother's hest, the twin-born Maid
  10. 53With face averted and unsteady eyes,
  11. 54Her truant playmate's faded robe puts on;
  12. 55And inly shrinking from her own disguise
  13. 56Enacts the faery Boy that's lost and gone.
  14. 57O worse than all! O pang all pangs above
  15. 58Is Kindness counterfeiting absent Love!