XXV br br A heavy heart, Beloved, have I borne br From year to year until I saw thy face, br And sorrow after sorrow took the place br Of all those natural joys as lightly worn br As the stringed pearls, each lifted in its turn br By a beating heart at dance-time. Hopes apace br Were changed to long despairs, till God's own grace br Could scarcely lift above the world forlorn br My heavy heart. Then thou didst bid me bring br And let it drop adown thy calmly great br Deep being! Fast it sinketh, as a thing br Which its own nature doth precipitate, br While thine doth close above it, mediating br Betwixt the stars and the unaccomplished fate.