| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
| |
| A Doubting Heart |
| | | Adelaide Anne Procter (1825–64) |
| |
| |
| WHERE are the swallows fled? | |
| Frozen and dead, | |
| Perchance, upon some bleak and stormy shore. | |
| O doubting heart! | |
| Far over purple seas | 5 |
| They wait, in sunny ease, | |
| The balmy southern breeze, | |
| To bring them to their northern homes once more. | |
| |
| Why must the flowers die? | |
| Prison’d they lie | 10 |
| In the cold tomb, heedless of tears or rain. | |
| O doubting heart! | |
| They only sleep below | |
| The soft white ermine snow, | |
| While winter winds shall blow, | 15 |
| To breathe and smile upon you soon again. | |
| |
| The sun has hid its rays | |
| These many days; | |
| Will dreary hours never leave the earth? | |
| O doubting heart! | 20 |
| The stormy clouds on high | |
| Veil the same sunny sky, | |
| That soon (for spring is nigh) | |
| Shall wake the summer into golden mirth. | |
| |
| Fair hope is dead, and light | 25 |
| Is quench’d in night. | |
| What sound can break the silence of despair? | |
| O doubting heart! | |
| Thy sky is overcast, | |
| Yet stars shall rise at last, | 30 |
| Brighter for darkness past, | |
| And angels’ silver voices stir the air. | |
| |
|
|
|
