Canto XXV

I know that this was Life,—the track    Whereon with equal feet we fared;    And then, as now, the day prepared The daily burden for the back.

But this it was that made me move    As light as carrier-birds in air;    I loved the weight I had to bear, Because it needed help of Love:

Nor could I weary, heart or limb,    When mighty Love would cleave in twain    The lading of a single pain, And part it, giving half to him.

-Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A. H. H., Canto XXV