 | A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems |  |
189
“I KNOW THY PATH.”
I know thy path has many a cloud,
With many a rankling thorn is fraught;
I know thy spirit oft is bowed
With heavy care and anxious thought;
Nor boast mine own so much of bliss,
That I should love thee less for this.
With many a rankling thorn is fraught;
I know thy spirit oft is bowed
With heavy care and anxious thought;
Nor boast mine own so much of bliss,
That I should love thee less for this.
I can conceive thy faith is tried,
From day to day, how, where, or when,
Thy industry may best provide
“Things honest in the sight of men;”
With cause to own, when all is done,
Toil's scanty meed is hardly won.
From day to day, how, where, or when,
Thy industry may best provide
“Things honest in the sight of men;”
With cause to own, when all is done,
Toil's scanty meed is hardly won.
190
Yet lift up head and heart in hope,
Tread on thy dark and thorny way,
Meekly with toil and sorrow cope,
Be patient faith thy spirit's stay;
So shalt thou yet His goodness own
Whose love conducts through “paths unknown.”
Tread on thy dark and thorny way,
Meekly with toil and sorrow cope,
Be patient faith thy spirit's stay;
So shalt thou yet His goodness own
Whose love conducts through “paths unknown.”
E'en now, at times, amid the gloom
Of severing clouds, a light is seen;
At intervals the transient bloom
Of flowers springs up life's thorns between;
If rare such blossom and such beam,
The brighter from that cause they seem.
Of severing clouds, a light is seen;
At intervals the transient bloom
Of flowers springs up life's thorns between;
If rare such blossom and such beam,
The brighter from that cause they seem.
Oh! think not they would show so fair
Were flowers and sunshine always ours;
Those who life's pleasures only share,
Know little of Affection's powers;
Nor can the purer hopes of Heaven
To hearts that live for earth be given.
Were flowers and sunshine always ours;
Those who life's pleasures only share,
Know little of Affection's powers;
Nor can the purer hopes of Heaven
To hearts that live for earth be given.
191
Then lift up head and heart in hope,
Tread on thy dark and thorny way,
Meekly with toil and sorrow cope,
Be patient faith thy spirit's stay;
And thou shalt yet His goodness own
Whose love conducts through “paths unknown.”
Tread on thy dark and thorny way,
Meekly with toil and sorrow cope,
Be patient faith thy spirit's stay;
And thou shalt yet His goodness own
Whose love conducts through “paths unknown.”
If not in time, of this be sure,
Well can eternity make up,
By joys unfading, pangless, pure,
For trial's thorns and sorrow's cup;
And more than sunshine's brightest glow
Atone for darkest clouds below.
Well can eternity make up,
By joys unfading, pangless, pure,
For trial's thorns and sorrow's cup;
And more than sunshine's brightest glow
Atone for darkest clouds below.
| A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems | |