The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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| XI. |
 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
119
III.
PAIN'S PURPOSE
They are not good, the sorrow and the pain,
Save only as leaders unto higher things:
When agony, with black or blood-red wings,
Flaps round our brows it is that we may gain
Some higher gift that God's stern servant brings.
The thorn-crown means that some day we shall reign
Crowned not with thorns but flowers,—as queens and kings
Able the imperial sceptre to retain.
Save only as leaders unto higher things:
When agony, with black or blood-red wings,
Flaps round our brows it is that we may gain
Some higher gift that God's stern servant brings.
The thorn-crown means that some day we shall reign
Crowned not with thorns but flowers,—as queens and kings
Able the imperial sceptre to retain.
Through mortal pain we pass towards being painless:
Yea, towards the kingly life that God lives; stainless,
Purged of desire, and perfect in its scope.
The daily agony whose hot darts pierce
With flight unintermittent, swift and fierce,
Is wreathed with this unintermittent hope.
Yea, towards the kingly life that God lives; stainless,
Purged of desire, and perfect in its scope.
The daily agony whose hot darts pierce
With flight unintermittent, swift and fierce,
Is wreathed with this unintermittent hope.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |