‘Yet
blame not thou thy plaintive song,’
The Spirit of true love replied;
‘Thou canst not move me from thy side,
Nor
human frailty do me wrong.
‘What
keeps a spirit wholly true
To that ideal which he bears?
What record? not the sinless years
That
breathed beneath the Syrian blue:
‘So
fret not, like an idle girl,
That life is dash’d with flecks of sin.
Abide: thy wealth is gather’d in,
When
Time hath sunder’d shell from pearl.’