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i
NEST
iii
How was it, Dear? I know not, nor can know,
The why and wherefore, eighteen years ago,
You came to me, and made me love you so.
The why and wherefore, eighteen years ago,
You came to me, and made me love you so.
I drew to you in that my utter need;
I clung to you, as though it were decreed
That by your love I should be saved indeed.
I clung to you, as though it were decreed
That by your love I should be saved indeed.
And eighteen years since then have past away,
And now I lay my hand in yours and say,
“Take of my offering, Dear and True, to-day.”
And now I lay my hand in yours and say,
“Take of my offering, Dear and True, to-day.”
I cannot sing of things which did befall
To you and me in that same interval—
Great still is great, though fancied great show small.
To you and me in that same interval—
Great still is great, though fancied great show small.
Do needs and sharp distresses pass away?
Does God fold arms around us, bid us stay,
And look calm-eyed upon the yesterday.
Does God fold arms around us, bid us stay,
And look calm-eyed upon the yesterday.
The yesterday, the eighteen years ago,
Which are the very same to Him, we know,
Who loves His children and Who comforts so?
Which are the very same to Him, we know,
Who loves His children and Who comforts so?
He never killed a tree His hand would prune,
Nor ever broke a lyre He sought to tune,
Nor crushed a heart beneath His royal boon.
Nor ever broke a lyre He sought to tune,
Nor crushed a heart beneath His royal boon.
And if a storm-tost soul such grace have won
It smiles to meet the smiling of His sun,
Like leaves that Whitsun showers have rained upon,
It smiles to meet the smiling of His sun,
Like leaves that Whitsun showers have rained upon,
In sunshine as in tempest, verily,
It says, “O Father, thanks I render Thee
Because of this my friend Thou gavest me.”
It says, “O Father, thanks I render Thee
Because of this my friend Thou gavest me.”
What's between you and me? My dear, we know,
And He knows too, and that's enough, we trow,
For all years hence, as eighteen years ago.
And He knows too, and that's enough, we trow,
For all years hence, as eighteen years ago.
August, 1888.
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