The Secret Splendour

Grace

"I have not trod on thorns: do I deserve

The paradise

Of Thy cool presence? I can plead no rough

Austere emprise.

 I never won a combat with life's ill,

Nor luxury spurned:

Only for sweeter joy when joy was mine

This heart has yearned.

Its single grief was a love that nought so rich

On earth could see

 As what it longed for" ... "Hence, dear child, am I

Revealed to thee!

 Easy to win my grace if men but knew—

No blood of pain

 Do I extort, no wrench of spirit or flesh,

And strife is vain.

One sole demand I lay upon each life—

To realise

That earth can never calm the deep heart's call

Through love-lit eyes!"

20.8.36

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