| Hope and Fear |
| Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) |
| BENEATH the shadow of dawn’s aerial cope, | |
| With eyes enkindled as the sun’s own sphere, | |
| Hope from the front of youth in godlike cheer | |
| Looks Godward, past the shades where blind men grope | |
| Round the dark door that prayers nor dreams can ope, | 5 |
| And makes for joy the very darkness dear | |
| That gives her wide wings play; nor dreams that fear | |
| At noon may rise and pierce the heart of hope. | |
| Then, when the soul leaves off to dream and yearn, | |
| May truth first purge her eyesight to discern | 10 |
| What once being known leaves time no power to appal; | |
| Till youth at last, ere yet youth be not, learn | |
| The kind wise word that falls from years that fall— | |
| “Hope thou not much, and fear thou not at all.” |
