Earth has no loss. Life-giving God,
Thy will in Nature is not crost;
Though quick with myriad graves her sod,
There's never any written--lost--
If we, who doubtful meanings scan,
Might from her pages take a text
To prove the destiny of man,
And by this world's light read the next!
She counts her springs by thousand years,
Sure all her losses to regain;
Alas! that costlier human tears
Should be more fruitless than her rain!
Our life the only wasted thing,
God's purpose only here o'erthrown,
The stars in happy circles sing,
And souls be wanderers alone!
While that strong Hand is holding still,
Earth-atoms, we are self-undone;
He leaves our erring, feeble will
To wander from the central sun.
O waste! O loss of unknown worth!
If we indeed be what we think,
And walk so blindly such an earth,
And stand so close on such a brink!
Sometimes we deem no final dark
Shall quench the least light God has given,
No far abysses hide the spark
That once was lit for love and heaven;
That of his creatures none shall fail
To stand at last in his true place,
No mist of evil always pale
The brightness of the Father's face.
Ah Lord! when Thou shalt make all right,
Shall evil ever breathe again!
When nothing stands across Thy light,
Shall the great Shadow darken then?
Alas! the upper heaven is wide,
Yet clouds may shut from us the skies!
But this is from the earthward side,
Angels may see it otherwise.
