Sonnetvii. Truth Loveth Not To Lavish Upon All Poem by Henry Alford

Truth loveth not to lavish upon all
The clear down--shining of her heavenly smile;
She chooseth those on whom its light shall fall.
And shuts them from the earthly crowd the while:
But they whom she hath lightened tread this earth
With step and mien of heavenly gentleness;
Ye shall not see them drunk with over--mirth,
Or tangled in the world's thick wilderness;
For there hath shone upon their path of life
Mild beamings from a hidden glory's ray;
A calm hath passed upon their spirit's strife,
The bounding of young hopes hath sunk away,
And certain bliss hath dawned, with still uprise,
Like the deep rest of joy in spirits' Paradise.