I looked for that which is not, nor can be, <br />And hope deferred made my heart sick in truth: <br />But years must pass before a hope of youth <br />Is resigned utterly. <br /> <br />I watched and waited with a steadfast will: <br />And though the object seemed to flee away <br />That I so longed for, ever day by day <br />I watched and waited still. <br /> <br />Sometimes I said: This thing shall be no more; <br />My expectation wearies and shall cease; <br />I will resign it now and be at peace: <br />Yet never gave it o'er. <br /> <br />Sometimes I said: It is an empty name <br />I long for; to a name why should I give <br />The peace of all the days I have to live?— <br />Yet gave it all the same. <br /> <br />Alas, thou foolish one! alike unfit <br />For healthy joy and salutary pain: <br />Thou knowest the chase useless, and again <br />Turnest to follow it.<br /><br />Christina Georgina Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-pause-of-thought/
