Poems (Sharpless)/Regret
For works with similar titles, see Regret.
REGRET
The spell of another life has bound me As the twilight shadows thickly fall,And memories sweet and sad surround me; Memories I can but half recall.
Away in the misty hum of noises Lie the wearying cares of the world without,But the murmurs of gentle spirit-voices Within my chamber are floating about;
And my soul with a thrill of repentant yearning Rests in the twilight land of shade;Away from the world, heart-sick I'm turning To mourn o'er the early wrecks I have made—
Wrecks of the good, the better hours Granted to me by the Love of God;Wrecks of the pure celestial flowers I've trampled upon my ambitious road;
Wrecks of the holiest, deepest feeling In light unthought I have cast aside,And the gentle regret for their lot, when stealing O'er my heart, was crushed by a stormy pride.
The spell of another life is round me, A spell I cannot nor dare resist,And the ghosts of murdered hours surround me, Glooming pale thro' the chilling mist.
A cross is there—a cross whose shadow Darkened the sunshine in my path,As the trees fall athwart the light in a meadow; But I trampled it down in my puny wrath.
The heavens grew black as the tempest gathered, I felt my idols were cold, too late;But I raised my head when the storm I weathered In proud defiance of any fate.
Thy smile has softened my heart, O Saviour! Meekly I bow where I would not resist;Thou hast redeemed all my sinful behaviour On the cross that gleams thro' the lurid mist.
Thou hast spoken, my soul befriending, The spell of the other life is Thine;See, my rebellious neck I am bending To bear a burden Thou'st made divine.
Now the shadows are slowly fading And the mist grows clearer with purer light,And upon the clouds that my heart are shading Thy cross is shedding a gilding bright.