Cheerfulness Taught By Reason

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    I think we are too ready with complaint
    In this fair world of God's. Had we no hope
    Indeed beyond the zenith and the slope
    Of yon gray blank of sky, we might grow faint
    To muse upon eternity's constraint
    Round our aspirant souls; but since the scope
    Must widen early, is it well to droop,    
    For a few days consumed in loss and taint?
    O pusillanimous Heart, be comforted        
    And, like a cheerful traveller, take the road
    Singing beside the hedge. What if the bread
    Be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod
    To meet the flints? At least it may be said
    'Because the way is short, I thank thee, God.'