Thomas Edward Brown (1830-1897). From 'Pain'. Andrew Macphail, comp. 1916. The Book of Sorrow

Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916.

XXXIV. Compensation
From ‘Pain’

By Thomas Edward Brown (1830–1897)


THE MAN that hath great griefs I pity not;
’Tis something to be great
In any wise, and hint the larger state,
Though but in shadow of a shade, God wot!

Moreover, while we wait the possible,	5
This man has touched the fact,
And probed till he has felt the core, where, packed
In pulpy folds, resides the ironic ill….

For thus it is God stings us into life,
Provoking actual souls	10
From bodily systems, giving us the poles
That are His own, not merely balanced strife …

Thrice happy such an one! Far other he
Who dallies on the edge
Of the great vortex, clinging to a sedge	15
Of patent good, a timorous Manichee …

For there is threefold oneness with the One;
And he is one, who keeps
The homely laws of life; who, if he sleeps,
Or wakes, in his true flesh God’s will is done …	20

But tenfold one is he, who feels all pains
Not partial, knowing them
As ripples parted from the gold-beaked stem,
Wherewith God’s galley onward ever strains.

To him the sorrows are the tension-thrills	25
Of that serene endeavour,
Which yields to God for ever and for ever
The joy that is more ancient than the hills.