<h2><SPAN name="poem80"></SPAN>RESPITE</h2>
<p class="poetry">The mighty conflict, which we call
existence,<br/>
Doth wear upon the body and the soul,<br/>
Our vital forces wasted in resistance,<br/>
So much there is to conquer and control.</p>
<p class="poetry">The rock which meets the billows with
defiance,<br/>
Undaunted and unshaken day by day,<br/>
In spite of its unyielding self-reliance,<br/>
Is by the warfare surely worn away.</p>
<p class="poetry">And there are depths and heights of strong
emotions<br/>
That surge at times within the human breast,<br/>
More fierce than all the tides of all the oceans<br/>
Which sweep on ever in divine unrest.</p>
<p class="poetry">I sometimes think the rock worn with adventures,<br/>
And sad with thoughts of conflicts yet to be,<br/>
Must envy the frail reed which no one censures,<br/>
When, overcome, ’tis swallowed by the sea.</p>
<p class="poetry">This life is all resistance and repression.<br/>
Dear God, if in that other world unseen,<br/>
Not rest we find, but new life and progression,<br/>
Grant us a respite in the grave between.</p>
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