A Colliquy

Why hurt so hard by little pricks, By chasing cares so clouded over, Heart of mine? Holding what no storm can unfix Nor time corrupt, O tender lover! Why repine? In you so deep a fountain springs Of faith and joy beyond all speech, O happy heart! How should those meanly thwarting things Men do, the petty creeds they preach, In you have part? It is because, my heart replies, There is such beauty to adore Within, for ever,-- Because I dwell in paradise, That the world's chafing is a sore, A fret, a fever. Were there no fountain welling strong In me, no vision heavenly--rare Before my eyes, There'd be for me no world of wrong Without, lamenting to compare With paradise.