XLIX.
The golden key of life,
True maiden crowned a wife.
What then are toil and trouble,
With strength to meet them, double?
L.
True Heaven begins on earth
Around a common hearth,
Or in a humble heart--
Thy faith means what thou art,
And that which thou wouldst be;
Thou makest it, it thee.
LI.
No Heaven in Truth and Love?
Then do not look above.
Yet Truth and Love have wings,
Although the highest things;
Therewith to mount, dear friend,
Is life that has no end.
LII.
Art thou a mourner here?
But One can give thee cheer:
Affliction turns to grace
Before the Master's face.
LIII.
My friend, my troubled friend,
If true, Love has not found you,
Then I can comprehend
That Duty has not bound you.
LIV.
Love is the source of duty,
The parent of all life,
Which Heaven pronounces beauty,
The crown of man and wife,
Beginning and the end
To hero, saint, and friend;
An inspiration which
Is so abundant, rich,
That from the finger-tips
And from the blooming lips,
Yea, from the voiceful eyes,
In questions and replies--
From every simple action
And hourly benefaction
It pours itself away,
A gladness day by day,
Exhaustless as the sun,
Work done and never done.
And I have painted _you_,
O maiden fair and true!
LV.
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