Читать книгу The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell - James Russell Lowell - Страница 241

The leper raised not the gold from the dust:

'Better to me the poor man's crust, 160

Better the blessing of the poor,

Though I turn me empty from his door;

That is no true alms which the hand can hold;

He gives only the worthless gold

Who gives from a sense of duty;

But he who gives but a slender mite,

And gives to that which is out of sight,

That thread of the all-sustaining Beauty

Which runs through all and doth all unite—

The hand cannot clasp the whole of his alms, 170

The heart outstretches its eager palms,

For a god goes with it and makes it store

To the soul that was starving in darkness before.'