A heart at leisure from itself,
To soothe and sympathise.

A heart at leisure from itself,
To soothe and sympathise.

Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow
For other's good, and melt at other's woe.

Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow
For other's good, and melt at other's woe.

The secrets of life are not shown except to sympathy and
likeness.

The secrets of life are not shown except to sympathy and
likeness.

The craving for sympathy is the common boundary-line between joy
and sorrow.

The craving for sympathy is the common boundary-line between joy
and sorrow.

Strengthen me by sympathizing with my strength not my weakness.

Strengthen me by sympathizing with my strength not my weakness.

Our souls sit close and silently within,
And their own web from their own entrails spin;
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Our souls sit close and silently within,
And their own web from their own entrails spin;
And when eyes meet far off, our sense is such,
That, spider like, we feel the tenderest touch.

In the desert a fountain is springing,
In the wide waste there still is a tree,
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In the desert a fountain is springing,
In the wide waste there still is a tree,
And a bird in the solitude singing,
Which speaks to my spirit of thee.

Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
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Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
Making it momentany as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'
The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
So quick bright things come to confusion.

Sympathy is a virtue unknown in nature.

Sympathy is a virtue unknown in nature.