Ivor Gurney - song of pain and beauty
Channel: PoetryProse Project
Date: 2015-04-03

SONG OF PAIN AND BEAUTY 
[To M. M. S.] 

O may these days of pain, 
These wasted-seeming days, 

Somewhere reflower again 

With scent and savour of praise. 

Draw out of memory all bitterness 
Of night with Thy sun's rays. 

And strengthen Thou in me 
The love of men here found, 

And eager charity, 

That, out of difficult ground, 

Spring like flowers in barren deserts, or 
Like light, or a lovely sound. 

A simpler heart than mine 
Might have seen beauty clear 

Where I could see no sign 
Of Thee, but only fear. 

Strengthen me, make me to see Thy 
beauty always 
In every happening here.