DOUBT

by: Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

HEY bade me cast the thing away,

They pointed to my hands all bleeding,

They listened not to all my pleading;

The thing I meant I could not say;

I knew that I should rue the day

If once I cast that thing away.

 

I grasped it firm, and bore the pain;

The thorny husks I stripped and scattered;

If I could reach its heart, what mattered

If other men saw not my gain,

Or even if I should be slain?

I knew the risks; I chose the pain.

 

O, had I cast that thing away,

I had not found what most I cherish,

A faith without which I should perish,--

The faith which, like a kernel, lay

Hid in the husks which on that day

My instinct would not throw away!

• Helen Hunt Jackson: Bibliography - A bibliography of the works of Helen Hunt Jackson; includes a list of critical and biographical resources.
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