Words That Burn

Darkling methinks the path of life is grown,
And Solitude and Sorrow close around;
My fellow-travellers one by one are gone,
Their home is reached, but mine must still be found.

The sun that set as the last bow’d his head
To cross the threshold of his resting place
Has left the world devoid of all that made
Its business, pleasure, happiness, and grace.

But I have still the desert path to trace;
Nor with the day has my day’s work an end;
And winds and shadows through the cold air chase,
And earth looks dark where walked we friend with friend.

And yet thus wilder’d, not without a guide,
I wander on amid the shades of night;
My home-fires gleam, methinks, and round them glide
My friends at peace, far off, but still in sight;

For through the closing gloom, mine eyesight goes
Further in heaven than when the day was bright;
And there as Earth still dark and darker grows,
Shines out for every shade a world of light.