“Not ours the vows”

Bernard Barton (1784–1849)

NOT ours the vows of such as plight

Their troth in sunny weather,

While leaves are green and skies are bright,

To walk on flowers together.

But we have loved as those who tread

The thorny path of sorrow,

With clouds above, and cause to dread

Yet deeper gloom to-morrow.

That thorny path, those stormy skies,

Have drawn our spirits nearer;

And rendered us, by sorrow’s ties,

Each to the other dearer.

Love, born in hours of joy and mirth,

With mirth and joy may perish;

That to which darker hours gave birth

Still more and more we cherish.

It looks beyond the clouds of time,

And through death’s shadowy portal;

Made by adversity sublime,

By faith and hope immortal.