1 They bade me cast the thing away, <br />2 They pointed to my hands all bleeding, <br />3 They listened not to all my pleading; <br />4 The thing I meant I could not say; <br />5 I knew that I should rue the day <br />6 If once I cast that thing away. <br /> <br />7 I grasped it firm, and bore the pain; <br />8 The thorny husks I stripped and scattered; <br />9 If I could reach its heart, what mattered <br />10 If other men saw not my gain, <br />11 Or even if I should be slain? <br />12 I knew the risks; I chose the pain. <br /> <br />13 O, had I cast that thing away, <br />14 I had not found what most I cherish, <br />15 A faith without which I should perish,-- <br />16 The faith which, like a kernel, lay <br />17 Hid in the husks which on that day <br />18 My instinct would not throw away!<br /><br />Helen Hunt Jackson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/doubt-4/
