To One in Hospital Pent

LITTLE sister, everywhereThere is sorrow: here—where menGreet the day-beam often whenThey the lagging moments measureBy the suffering they bear—Just as there!

Earth-born children all are dueAt one goal, and none is free:Nay; not I, who seem to bePrivileged at large to wanderWhere no walls obstruct the blue,More than you!

But where tears have wet the sod,Beautiful may flowers spring,And in cages birds may sing;For there's love, too, little sister,Everywhere that grief hath trod;And there's God!