Two Truths
“Darling,” he said, “I never meant
To hurt you”; and his eyes were wet.
“I would not hurt you for the world:
Am I to blame if I forget?”
“Forgive my selfish tears!” she cried,
“Forgive! I knew that it was not
Because you meant to hurt me, sweet,—
I knew it was that you forgot!”
But all the same deep in her heart
Rankled this thought, and rankles yet,—
“When love is at its best, one loves
So much that he cannot forget?”
—Helen Hunt Jackson.
The House Of The Mind
Seek no more abroad, say I,
House and Home, but turn thine eye
Inward, and observe thy breast;
There alone dwells solid rest.
That’s a close immured tower
Which can mock all hostile power.
To thyself a tenant be,
And inhabit safe and free.
Say not that this house is small,
Girt up in a narrow wall;
In a cleanly sober mind
Heaven itself full room doth find.
The Infinite Creator can
Dwell in it; and may not man?
Here content make thy abode
With thyself and with thy God.
—Joseph Beaumont.
Alternate Reading: Psalms 1:1-3.