Doubt

 Doubt
They 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!