<h2><SPAN name="page66"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>THE UNDERTONE</h2>
<p class="poetry"><span class="smcap">When</span> I was very
young I used to feel the dark despairs of youth;<br/>
Out of my little griefs I would invent great tragedies and
woes;<br/>
Not only for myself, but for all those I held most dear<br/>
I would invent vast sorrows in my melancholy moods of thought.<br/>
Yet down deep, deep in my heart there was an undertone of
rapture.<br/>
It was like a voice from some other world calling softly to
me,<br/>
Saying things joyful.</p>
<p class="poetry">As I grew older, and Life offered bitter gall
for me to drink,<br/>
Forcing it through clenched teeth when I refused to take it
willingly;<br/>
<SPAN name="page67"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>When Pain
prepared some special anguish for my heart to bear,<br/>
And all the things I longed for seemed to be wholly beyond my
reach—<br/>
Yet down deep, deep in my heart there was an undertone of
rapture.<br/>
It was like a Voice, a Voice from some other world calling to
me,<br/>
Bringing glad tidings.</p>
<p class="poetry">Now when I look about me, and see the great
injustices of men,<br/>
See Idleness and Greed waited upon by luxury and mirth,<br/>
See prosperous Vice ride by in state, while footsore Virtue
walks;<br/>
Now when I hear the cry of need rise up from lands of shameful
wealth—<br/>
Yet down deep, deep in my heart there is an undertone of
rapture.<br/>
It is like a Voice—it is a Voice—calling to me and
saying:<br/>
‘Love rules triumphant.’</p>
<p class="poetry">Now when each mile-post on the path of life
seems marked by headstones,<br/>
<SPAN name="page68"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>And one by
one dear faces that I loved are hid away from sight;<br/>
Now when in each familiar home I see a vacant chair,<br/>
And in the throngs once formed of friends I meet unrecognising
eyes—<br/>
Yet down deep, deep in my heart there is an undertone of
rapture.<br/>
It is the Voice, it is the Voice for ever saying unto me:<br/>
‘Life is Eternal.’</p>
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