John McCrae

The Hope of My Heart

"Delicta juventutis et ignorantius ejus, quoesumus ne memineris, Domine."

I left, to earth, a little maiden fair,
    With locks of gold, and eyes that shamed the light;
I prayed that God might have her in His care
                    And sight.

Earth's love was false; her voice, a siren's song;
    (Sweet mother-earth was but a lying name)
The path she showed was but the path of wrong
                    And shame.

"Cast her not out!" I cry. God's kind words come —
    "Her future is with Me, as was her past;
It shall be My good will to bring her home
                    At last."