Third Couplet

So after a little editing, I find myself here:

Elegy for the blind hope laid aside,
   interred as I close the book
in which my spirit was given oft to wander
   and my eyes to look

Where less often yet with greater zeal
   my penned fingers were wont to walk
and wrote of mem'ries future and past,
   of hopes and dreams of which we talked.

And trembling now they rest, eyes with tears
   unshed and heart still wand'ring far
Endeav'ring always its yoke in quiet to bear...

The last five syllables here are completely stumping me.  I think I may have to snip the last half of the couplet altogether and start over.

I have thought of using the following, but it suffers from an extra syllable and does not rhyme:

Asking 'Where is the way, that I may walk in it,
   which once so clearly rang...'

What I like about it is that it plays nicely on the theme, and hearkens back to the voice I perceived back in July, and, for the better read, appeals to Isaiah.  (I do not intend to wrest holy writ from its meaning.)

I apologize for two things.  First for the sap.  It is that.  But it is therapy, on which ground I excuse myself.  And second for the sadness.  I hope there is a Psalm 89 for this Psalm 88, and I will excuse myself on this ground also.  I will not apologize for the contrivance, for if anything is forced and unnatural, it is death.  Morever, the writing is a tacit nod toward Shaeffer's idea of "form and freedom."


Good luck with Jon.  I am praying for you both.