Views of life : autograph manuscript signed of the last nine stanzas : Haworth, 1845 June
The Henry Houston Bonnell Brontë Collection. Bequest of Helen Safford Bonnell, 1969
Because the road is rough and long,
Shall we despise the skylark’s song,
That cheers the wanderer’s way?
Or trample down, with reckless feet,
The [erased: flowers that smile beneath our] flowerets smiling at our feet
The smiling flowerets bright and sweet
Because they soon decay?
Pass pleasant scenes unnoticed bye
Because the next is bleak and drear;
Or not enjoy a smiling sky,
Because a tempest may be near?
No while we journey on our way,
We’ll notice on ev’ry lovely thing,
And ever as they pass away,
To memory and hope we’ll cling.
And though that awful river flows,
Before us when the journey’s past,
Perchance of all the pilgrim’s woes –
Most dreadful – shrink not – ’tis the last!
Though icy icey cold, and dark and deep
Beyond it smiles that blessed shore,
Where none shall suffer, none shall weep
And peace bliss shall reign for evermore
———————
Anne Brontë June 1845
Text as published in Poems (1846)
Because the road is rough and long,
Shall we despise the skylark’s song,
That cheers the wanderer’s way?
Or trample down, with reckless feet,
The smiling flowerets, bright and sweet
Because they soon decay?
Pass pleasant scenes unnoticed by,
Because the next is bleak and drear;
Or not enjoy a smiling sky,
Because a tempest may be near?
No! while we journey on our way,
We’ll smile on every lovely thing;
And ever, as they pass away,
To memory and hope we’ll cling.
And though that awful river flows
Before us, when the journey’s past,
Perchance of all the pilgrim’s woes
Most dreadful–shrink not–’tis the last!
Though icy cold, and dark, and deep;
Beyond it smiles that blessed shore,
Where none shall suffer, none shall weep,
And bliss shall reign for evermore!