After a Parting
 
Farewell has long been said; I have foregone thee;
   I never name thee even.
But how shall I learn virtues and yet shun thee?
   For thou art so near Heaven
That Heavenward meditations pause upon thee.
 
Thou dost beset the path to every shrine;
   My trembling thoughts discern
Thy goodness in the good for which I pine;
   And, if I turn from but one sin, I turn
Unto a smile of thine.
 
How shall I thrust thee apart
   Since all my growth tends to thee night and day—
To thee faith, hope, and art?
   Swift are the currents setting all one way;
They draw my life, my life, out of my heart.


Webpage © 2001 ELC
Lane Core Jr. (lane@elcore.net)
http://poetry.elcore.net/CatholicPoets/Meynell/Meynell009.html
Created April 11, 2001; not revised.