The poetical works of Henry Alford Fifth edition, containing many pieces now first collected |
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LIFE'S ANSWER. (1862.) |
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 | The poetical works of Henry Alford |  |
LIFE'S ANSWER. (1862.)
I know not if the dark or bright
Shall be my lot:
If that wherein my hopes delight
Be best or not.
Shall be my lot:
If that wherein my hopes delight
Be best or not.
It may be mine to drag for years
Toil's heavy chain:
Or day and night my meat be tears
On bed of pain.
Toil's heavy chain:
Or day and night my meat be tears
On bed of pain.
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Dear faces may surround my hearth
With smiles and glee:
Or I may dwell alone, and mirth
Be strange to me.
With smiles and glee:
Or I may dwell alone, and mirth
Be strange to me.
My bark is wafted to the strand
By breath divine:
And on the helm there rests a hand
Other than mine.
By breath divine:
And on the helm there rests a hand
Other than mine.
One who has known in storms to sail
I have on board:
Above the raving of the gale
I hear my Lord.
I have on board:
Above the raving of the gale
I hear my Lord.
He holds me when the billows smite,
I shall not fall:
If sharp, 'tis short; if long, 'tis light;
He tempers all.
I shall not fall:
If sharp, 'tis short; if long, 'tis light;
He tempers all.
Safe to the land—safe to the land,
The end is this:
And then with Him go hand in hand
Far into bliss.
The end is this:
And then with Him go hand in hand
Far into bliss.
| The poetical works of Henry Alford | |