And is earth known in heaven? Dost see, O clear-eyed soul,
The present changing life of man
Still working out the wondrous plan
Of making even broken lives add to the complete whole?—
Ah, broken lives
That death deprives
Of help like thine that heavenward strives!
And are we known in heaven? Do I, thy once fond care,
Still have that patient yearning love
Which longed to lift my soul above
The sweet though transitory joys of even earth's best fare?—
Ah, earth's best fare
Cannot compare
With thy ideal of me laid bare!
[A COMFORT.]
TO S. R. H.
I have sowed in tears,—
Shall I reap in joy?
Shall my human heart be satisfied,
And sorrow and pain be justified?
Shall full fruition free my soul
From limitation's sad control,
And all my faculties of mind
Their perfect rest and freedom find?
"They that sow in tears
Shall reap in joy,"
Sang a poet-heart in the long ago,
'Midst depths of sorrow, pain, and woe;
And what to him was truth and life
Has shone through all the ages' strife,
To be at last our beacon-light
Of comfort in the darkest night.