THE WORLD AND I
For a sanctum it was a very pleasant refuge in time of trouble
Don't make her the object of your fine feelings, your raptures, agonies
Sense would resist delirium: judgement would warn passion
I wanted to hear her voice again, yet feared to meet her eye
I knew you would do me good in some way, at some time: I saw it in your eyes when I first beheld you: her expression and smile did not strike delight to my very inmost heart so for nothing
I seemed to hear a hiss, and the green snake of jealousy, rising on undulating coils from the moonlit balcony, glided within my waistcoat, and ate its way in two minutes to my heart's core
Floating on with closed eyes and muffled ears, you neither see the rocks bristling not far off in the bed of the flood, nor hear the breakers boil at their base
You will come some day to a craggy pass in the channel, where the whole of life's stream will be broken up into whirl and tumult, foam and noise: either you will be dashed to atoms on crag points, or lifted up and borne on by some master-wave into a calmer current - as I am now
Remorse is the poison of life
A memory without blot or contamination must be an exquisite treasure - an inexhaustible source of pure refreshment: is it not?
Don't venture on generalities of which you are intensely ignorant
We can none of us help our nature
A present has many faces to it, has it not?
There are people who seem to have no notion of sketching a character, or observing nad describing salient points, either in persons or things
The impulse of gratitude swelled my heart, and I knelt down at the bedside, and offered up thanks where thanks were due; not forgetting, ere I rose, to implore aid on my farther path, and the power of meriting the kindness which seemed so frankly offered me before it was earned
I must embrace her before she died - i must give her one last kiss, exchange with her one last word
Nor ever ceased to cherish for her a sentiment of attachment, as strong, tender, and respectful as any that ever animated my heart
I cannot bear to be solitary and hated
If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends
There is an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits: and those spirits watch us, for they are commissioned to guard us; and if we were dying in pain and shame, if scorn smote us on all sides, and hatred crushed us, angels see our tortures, recognize our innocence
And God waits only a separation of spirit from flesh to crown us with a full reward
Even for me life had its gleams of sunshine