Yet even in these same afflictions She found a secret charm in part: For nature—fond of contradictions— Has so designed the human heart. The holy days are here. What gladness! … Bright youth divines, not knowing sadness, With nothing that it must regret, With all of life before it yet— A distance luminous and boundless…. Old age divines with glasses on And sees the grave before it yawn, All thoughts of time returning—groundless; No matter: childish hope appears To murmur lies in aged ears.
