Nothing New

Classic writing, modern delivery

Alfred, Lord Tennyson · In Memoriam A.H.H.

Poem 54 of 130 · Book I

Canto 53

— ✻ —

Oh yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill,
To pangs of nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;

That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That not one life shall be destroy’d,
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete;

That not a worm is cloven in vain;
That not a moth with vain desire
Is shrivel’d in a fruitless fire,
Or but subserves another’s gain.

Behold! we know not anything;
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last--far off--at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.

So runs my dream: but what am I?
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.

Receive Alfred, Lord Tennyson one poem at a time, on your schedule.
Subscribe →