English Poetry. Elizabeth Barrett-Browning. Cheerfulness Taught by Reason. Элизабет Барретт-Браунинг.

Elizabeth Barrett-Browning (Элизабет Барретт-Браунинг)

Cheerfulness Taught by Reason

I THINK we are too ready with complaint
In this fair world of God's. Had we no hope
Indeed beyond the zenith and the slope
Of yon gray blank of sky, we might grow faint
To muse upon eternity's constraint
Round our aspirant souls; but since the scope
Must widen early, is it well to droop,  
For a few days consumed in loss and taint?
O pusillanimous Heart, be comforted    
And, like a cheerful traveller, take the road
Singing beside the hedge. What if the bread
Be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod
To meet the flints ? At least it may be said
' Because the way is short, I thank thee, God.'

Elizabeth Barrett-Browning’s other poems:

1. Sonnets from the Portuguese. 30. I see thine image through my tears to-night
2. Sonnets from the portuguese. 31. Thou comest! all is said without a word
3. The Soul’s Expression
4. Sonnets from the Portuguese. 22. When our two souls stand up erect and strong
5. Sonnets from the Portuguese. 18. I never gave a lock of hair away

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