Forgiveness

Now bury with the dead years conflicts dead And with fresh days let all begin anew.

Why longer amid shrivelled leaf—drifts tread,

When buds are swelling, flower—sheaths peeping through?

Seen through the vista of the vanished years,

How trivial seem the struggle and the crown,

How vain past feuds, when reconciling tears Course down the channel worn by vanished frown.

How few mean half the bitterness they speak!

Words more than feelings keep us still apart,

And, in the heat of passion or of pique,

The tongue is far more cruel than the heart.

Since love alone makes it worth while to live,

Let all be now forgiven, and forgive.