Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
ToleranceSir Lewis Morris (18331907)
C
Relief to any laden life,
Cessation from the pain of thought,
Refreshment ’mid the dust of strife.
Be dumb and dead as wood or stone,
Though all the rapture which they feel
Be for the worshipper alone?
Before the Ineffable Source, before
The hidden soul of good; and thou,
With all thy wit, what dost thou more?
Some zealot or sleek knave who strives
To mar the sanctities of home,
To tear asunder wedded lives;
By shameful promise, shameful threat,
To turn the thinker from his thought,
To efface the eternal landmarks set
For such, but like a sudden flame
Let loose thy scorn on him, nor cease
Till thou hast cover’d him with shame.