Special Pleading

THE world's a path all fresh and sweet, A sky all fresh and fair, With daisies underneath your feet And roses for your hair; Red roses for your pretty hair, Green trees to shade your way, And lavish blossoms everywhere, Because the time is May. How gold the sun shines through the green! How soft the turf is spread! How richly falls the shimmering sheen About your darling head! How in the dawn of Paradise Should you foresee the night? How, with the sunlight in your eyes, See aught beyond the light? The world's a path all rough and wild, A sky all black with fears, Among the ghosts, unhappy child, You stumble, blind with tears; The track is faint, and far the fold, And very far the day: Unless you have a hand to hold, How will you find the way?