Explore "Compensations" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I. BLIND
When first the shadows fell, like prison bars, / And darkness spread before me, like a pall, / I cried out for the sun, the earth, the stars, / And beat the air, as madmen beat a wall, / Till, impotent, and broken with despair, / I turned my vision inward. Lo, a spark- / A light-a torch; and all my world grew bright; / For God's dear eyes were shining through the dark. / Then, bringing to me gifts of recompense, / Came keener hearing, finer taste, and touch; / And that oft unappreciated sense, / Which finds sweet odours, and proclaims them such; / And not until my mortal eyes were blind / Did I perceive how kind the world, how kind.