FAITH

When I see truth, do I seek truth Only that I may things denote, And, rich by striving, deck my youth As with a vain unusual coat?

Or seek I truth for other ends: That she in other hearts may stir, That even my most familiar friends May turn from me to look on her?

So I this day myself was asking; Out of the window skies were blue And Thames was in the sunlight basking; My thoughts coiled inwards like a screw.

I watched them anxious for a while; Then quietly, as I did watch, Spread in my soul a sudden smile: I knew that no firm thing they'd catch.

And I remembered if I leapt Upon the bosom of the wind It would sustain me; question slept; I felt that I had almost sinned.