English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
| |
| 651. Sonnet |
| | | Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton (1809–1885) |
| |
| |
| BECAUSE the Few with signal virtue crowned, | |
| The heights and pinnacles of human mind, | |
| Sadder and wearier than the rest are found, | |
| Wish not thy Soul less wise or less refined. | |
| True that the small delights which every day | 5 |
| Cheer and distract the pilgrim are not theirs; | |
| True that, though free from passion’s lawless sway, | |
| A loftier being brings several cares. | |
| Yet have they special pleasures, even mirth, | |
| By those undreamt of who have only trod | 10 |
| Life’s valley smooth; and if the rolling earth | |
| To their nice ear have many a painful tone, | |
| They know, Man does not live by Joy alone | |
| But by the presence of the power of God. | |
| |
|
|
|
