When fires have burnt your forest bare and black, <br />And you are parched and dizzy, and search in vain <br />For pools in dust unvisited of rain, <br />And shamble, lost, along a shimmering track, <br />This is the comfort of the world: “Alack! <br />So youth’s illusions die, that we may gain <br />Wisdom and strength to face our lifelong pain, <br />The truth, from which no man shall turn him back.” <br />Falter for no such melancholy lies, <br />For by one holy touch the spirit is healed <br />To know its treasure of sight and sound and scent; <br />Veil after veil the earthborn fogs arise, <br />Star beyond star the heavens are then revealed, <br />And truth is fair in love’s enlightenment.<br /><br />John Le Gay Brereton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/disillusion-6/
