The Poet's Page Poem by Louisa Lawson

Stern 'lucy calls and nias.
Must lier behest obey.
Must now with strength roy will compass,
Nor wave-ing thought betray.
It is. it must be fate's decree,
That while 1 sojourn here,
To be my bit I turn and Mee
From all my heart holds dear
To pass with cold averted eyes,
The hand I fain would clasp
And shun the thing my soul would prize
At last within my grasp.
Why did I choose this life of pain ?
Why do I live it still ?
Why drink the r'regs, and then again
My run ot sorrow fill ?
I do not know, I cannot tell.
Nor why along the road
When from my tack the burden Iel!
I took again the load.
I think I love the life of pain
That God has givtn to me.
For I would live it o'er again
If such a thing could be.
Tho sorrows that have come to me
Have taught me how to find
The souls in need of sympathy.
The wrecked among mankind.
My loss has been a blessed gain
For I have learnt to know,
That oft a simple woman'? pain
May heal a nation's woe.