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THOU KNEWEST ... THOU OUGHTEST THEREFORE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Behold in heaven a floating dazzling cloud
Last Line: And strong in patient weakness till the end.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina


BEHOLD in heaven a floating dazzling cloud,
So dazzling that I could but cry Alas!
Alas, because I felt how low I was;
Alas, within my spirit if not aloud,
Foreviewing my last breathless bed and shroud:
Thus pondering, I glanced downward on the grass;
And the grass bowed when airs of heaven would pass,
Lifting itself again when it had bowed.
That grass spake comfort; weak it was and low,
Yet strong enough and high enough to bend
In homage at a message from the sky:
As the grass did and prospered, so will I;
Tho' knowing little, doing what I know,
And strong in patient weakness till the end.





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