Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul Part 134

RETROSPECTION

He was better to me than all my hopes, He was better than all my fears; He made a road of my broken works And a rainbow of my tears.

The billows that guarded my sea girt path But carried my Lord on their crest; When I dwell on the days of my wilderness march I can lean on his love for the rest.

He emptied my hands of my treasured store And his covenant love revealed; There was not a wound in my aching heart But the balm of his breath hath healed.

Oh! tender and true was the chastening sore, In wisdom, that taught and tried, Till the soul that he sought was trusting in him And in nothing on earth beside.

He guided by paths that I could not see, By ways that I have not known, The crooked was straight and the rough made plain, As I followed the Lord alone.

I praise him still for the pleasant palms And the water springs by the way; For the glowing pillars of flame by night And the sheltering clouds by day.

There is light for me on the trackless wild As the wonders of old I trace, When the G.o.d of the whole earth went before To search me a resting place.

Has he changed for me? Nay! He changes not.

He will bring me by some new way, Through fire and flood and each crafty foe, As safely as yesterday.

And if to warfare he calls me forth, He buckles my armor on; He greets me with smiles and a word of cheer For battles his sword hath won; He wipes my brows as I droop and faint, He blesses my hand to toil; Faithful is he as he washes my feet, From the trace of each earthly soil.

Never a watch on the dreariest halt But some promise of love endears; I read from the past that my future shall be Far better than all my fears.

Like the golden pot of the wilderness bread, Laid up with the blossoming rod, All safe in the ark, with the law of the Lord, Is the covenant care of my G.o.d.

--Anna s.h.i.+pton.

ONE DAY'S SERVICE

O to serve G.o.d for a day!

From jubilant morn to the peace and the calm of the night To tread no path but his happy and blossoming way, To seek no delight But the joy that is one with the joy at heaven's heart; Only to go where thou art, O G.o.d of all blessing and beauty! to love, to obey With obedience sweetened by love and love made strong by the right; Not once, not once to be drunken with self, Or to play the hypocrite's poisoned part, Or to bend the knee of my soul to the pa.s.sion for pelf, Or the glittering G.o.ds of the mart; Through each glad hour to lay on the wings of its flight Some flower for the angels' sight; Some fragrant fas.h.i.+on of service, scarlet and white-- White for the pure intent, and red where the pulses start.

O, if thus I could serve him, could perfectly serve him one day, I think I could perfectly serve him forever--forever and aye!

--Amos R. Wells.

Life is a burden; bear it.

Life is a duty; dare it.

Life is a thorn crown; wear it.

Though it break your heart in twain, Though the burden crush you down, Close your lips and hide the pain; First the cross and then the crown.

BETTER THINGS

Better to smell the violet cool than sip the glowing wine; Better to hark a hidden brook than watch a diamond s.h.i.+ne.

Better the love of gentle heart than beauty's favors proud, Better the rose's living seed than roses in a crowd.

Better to love in loneliness than bask in love all day; Better the fountain in the heart than the fountain by the way.

Better be fed by a mother's hand than eat alone at will; Better to trust in G.o.d than say, My goods my storehouse fill.

Better to be a little wise than in knowledge to abound; Better to teach a child than toil to fill perfection's round.

Better sit at a master's feet than thrill a listening state; Better suspect that thou art proud than be sure that thou art great.

Better to walk in the realm unseen than watch the hour's event; Better the _well done_ at the last than the air with shoutings rent.

Better to have a quiet grief than a hurrying delight; Better the twilight of the dawn than the noonday burning bright.

Better to sit at the water's birth than a sea of waves to win; To live in the love that floweth forth than the love that cometh in.

Better a death when work is done than earth's most favored birth; Better a child in G.o.d's great house than the king of all the earth.

--George Macdonald.

Time is indeed a precious boon, But with the boon a task is given: The heart must learn its duty well To man on earth and G.o.d in heaven.

--Eliza Cook.

THE LENGTH OF LIFE

Are your sorrows hard to bear?

Life is short!

Do you drag the chain of care?

Life is short!

Soon will come the glad release Into rest and joy and peace; Soon the weary thread be spun, And the final labor done.

Keep your courage! Hold the fort!

Life is short!

Are you faint with hope delayed?

Life is long!

Tarries that for which you prayed?

Life is long!

What delights may not abide-- What ambitions satisfied-- What possessions may not be In G.o.d's great eternity?

Lift the heart! Be glad and strong!

Life is long!

--Amos R. Wells.

IS LIFE WORTH LIVING?

Is life worth living? Yes, so long As there is wrong to right, Wail of the weak against the strong, Or tyranny to fight; Long as there lingers gloom to chase, Or streaming tear to dry, One kindred woe, one sorrowing face, That smiles as we draw nigh; Long as a tale of anguish swells The heart and lids grow wet, And at the sound of Christmas bells We pardon and forget; So long as Faith with Freedom reigns And loyal Hope survives, And gracious Charity remains To leaven lowly lives; While there is one untrodden tract For Intellect or Will, And men are free to think and act, Life is worth living still.

--Alfred Austin.

The Moving Finger writes, and having writ Moves on; nor all thy piety nor wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.

--Omar Khayyam.