  I DID not always know ’twas kind Of thee to let me pass, And with my sacrilegious feet Walk lightly thru thy grass. How could I know, when I was young ’Twas one of thine own dreams, To tender me the license of Thy hills and singing streams. How could’st thou take even a part Of thy remotest time, And weld me, poor unworthly link, Into this chain of thine. One day I learned at cost of pain Among the shadows dim, Thy gift of violets, Oh! God Their fragrance cutting in. I set apart one hallowed day Forever dear to me. Because thou taughtest me to love A flowering apple tree. And since I’ve older grown and drawn To solitudes apart, I find I cannot tell the Lord All that is in my heart. |
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