5.
“Then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?”
And who shall stand the trial when the rock
Is shaken? We whose strongest purposes
Are but as webs to catch the summer flies,
Which the bat's wing beats down, the owlets mock,
Or light as gossamers that hold the flock
Of stationary sunbeams, which the breeze
Plays with,—yes, we that float our flags at ease
And softness, what shall we do in the shock,
When principalities have on us broke
In their own hour of darkness—what shall we?
Lord, let us not Thy Hand in that dark day
Forego, nor midnight Voice which calls to pray;—
So when the storm shivers the forest oak,
May we our poor frail branches hand on Thee.
