Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
Non NobisHenry Cust (18611917)
N
Not unto us the rapture of the day,
The peace of night, or love’s divine surprise,
High heart, high speech, high deeds ’mid honouring eyes;
For at Thy word
All these are taken away.
To us thou givest the scorn, the scourge, the scar,
The ache of life, the loneliness of death,
The insufferable sufficiency of breath;
And with Thy sword
Thou piercest very far.
Nay, Lord, but unto her be all things given—
May light and life and earth and sky be blasted—
But let not all that wealth of love be wasted:
Let Hell afford
The pavement of her Heaven!