The Pangs That Guard The Gates Of Joy

THE PANGS that guard the gates of joy,
the naked sword that will be kist,
how distant seem-d they to the boy,
white flashes in the rosy mist!

Ah, not where tender play was screen-d
in the light heart of leafy mirth
of that obdurate might we ween-d
that shakes the sure repose of earth.

And sudden, -twixt a sun and sun,
the veil of dreaming is withdrawn:
lo, our disrupt dominion
and mountains solemn in the dawn;

hard paths that chase the dayspring-s white,
and glooms that hold the nether heat:
oh, strange the world upheaved from night,
oh, dread the life before our feet!