Now bury with the dead years conflicts dead <br />And with fresh days let all begin anew. <br />Why longer amid shrivelled leaf-drifts tread, <br />When buds are swelling, flower-sheaths peeping through? <br />Seen through the vista of the vanished years, <br />How trivial seem the struggle and the crown, <br />How vain past feuds, when reconciling tears <br />Course down the channel worn by vanished frown. <br />How few mean half the bitterness they speak! <br />Words more than feelings keep us still apart, <br />And, in the heat of passion or of pique, <br />The tongue is far more cruel than the heart. <br />Since love alone makes it worth while to live, <br />Let all be now forgiven, and forgive.<br /><br />Alfred Austin<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/forgiveness-102/
