Henry Septimus Sutton (1825-1901). Rose's Diary (1850). "Each day a page is of my being's book." Alfred H. Miles, ed. 1907. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

Rose’s Diary (1850).
“Each day a page is of my being’s book”

By Henry Septimus Sutton (1825–1901)


XVI. NOVEMBER. EACH day a page is of my being’s book,
And what I do is what I write therein;
And often do I make sad blots of sin;
And seldom proves the writing quite akin
To what my heart beforehand undertook.	5

Daily I turn a fresh leaf, and renew
My hope of now at last a nobler page;
But presently in something I engage
That looks but poorly on a calm review,
And leaves my future a mean heritage.	10

So leaf on leaf, once clean, is turn’d and gone,
And the dark spots show through, and I grow sad,
And blush, and frown, and sigh. And, if I had
A million pages yet to write upon,
Perhaps the millionth would be just as bad.	15

What shall I do? Some new leaves, even yet,
May be before me. And perhaps I may
Write, even yet, some not ignoble day.
Alas! I do not know;—I cannot say.—
What is it to feel living?—I forget.	20