 | The Poems of Mackenzie Bell |  |
THE BALANCE OF LIFE.
'Tis false to say the world, though sad,
Hath no redeeming feature,
'Tis false to say the world, though glad,
Can hold no hopeless creature.
Hath no redeeming feature,
'Tis false to say the world, though glad,
Can hold no hopeless creature.
The darkest life has oft a ray
Of sunshine on the morrow,
The brightest life has many a day
Whose hours are filled with sorrow.
Of sunshine on the morrow,
The brightest life has many a day
Whose hours are filled with sorrow.
No life with ceaseless grief is fraught,
None with all bliss and beauty,
By varied teaching are we taught
The way to walk in duty.
None with all bliss and beauty,
By varied teaching are we taught
The way to walk in duty.
If happy be our earthly lot,
And free from Sorrow's burden,
Greater the need to linger not;—
Our work shall have its guerdon:
And free from Sorrow's burden,
Greater the need to linger not;—
Our work shall have its guerdon:
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Yet richer guerdon comes to those
Whom heav'n hath not exempted
From pain, who quell the self-same foes
Although more sorely tempted.
Whom heav'n hath not exempted
From pain, who quell the self-same foes
Although more sorely tempted.
Each grief that sweeps across the heart,
If sinless be its sadness,
In Life's long lesson bears a part
And yields us future gladness.
If sinless be its sadness,
In Life's long lesson bears a part
And yields us future gladness.
| The Poems of Mackenzie Bell | |