When he got to the verse
Trust no future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act—act in the living present!
Heart within and God o'erhead.
Robert now fully realized that he must trust to the future if he intended to live and continue to make a success and complete his discoveries and inventions. He read the last verse slowly and carefully:
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
This sounded much better to Robert. He was willing to learn to labor and wait and felt that if he waited there would be a reward, because Marie had promised him and he knew that Marie would keep her promise, and nothing could ever take from him that hope, that knowledge that Marie would keep her promise.
Then he read another little poem: "The Spring of Love."
A little sun, a little rain,
A soft wind blowing from the West,
And woods and fields are sweet again
And warmth within the mountain's breast.
A little love, a little trust,
A soft impulse, a sudden dream,
And life as dry as desert dust,
Is fresher than a mountain stream.
He knew that he had great love and great trust, and that that love, and the hope of Marie, would give him ambition and courage to continue on. It was now getting late and no news had come of Marie. Robert realized his birthday was passing and his hopes for the present were blasted.
He read the poem, "Lead Kindly Light":
Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark and I am far from home,
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene—one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to see and choose my path, but now
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.
So long thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on;
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.