Lilla (Cabot) Perry

I WILL not wish all grief and loss and fears

Should leave my life and let my heart go free;

For then true love could never come to me,—

That deepest love that has its birth in tears,

And never unto laughing eyes appears,

But only rises from grief’s boundless sea,

As, where black night and ocean blended be,

Sudden the moon its tranquil splendor rears.

Though rough the waters, golden is the way

That guides to it my weary heart and eyes;

And a soft whisper through the night wind sighs,

“They know me not who see me but by day;

Love’s moon shines brightest from the darkest skies;

Its golden path across grief’s ocean lies!”