- THE MYSTERY OF LIFE
by: Harriet Beecher Stowe
(1811-1896)
- IFE'S mystery -- deep, restless
as the ocean --
- Hath surged and wailed for ages to and fro;
- Earth's generations watch its ceaseless motion,
- As in and out its hollow moanings flow.
- Shivering and yearning by that unknown sea,
- Let my soul calm itself, O Christ, in thee!
-
- Life's sorrows, with inexorable power,
- Sweep desolation o'er this mortal plain;
- And human loves and hopes fly as the chaff
- Borne by the whirlwind from the ripened grain.
- Ah! when before that blast my hopes all flee,
- Let my soul calm itself, O Christ, in thee!
-
- Between the mysteries of death and life
- Thou standest, loving, guiding, not explaining;
- We ask, and thou art silent; yet we gaze,
- And our charmed hearts forget their drear complaining.
- No crushing fate, no stony destiny,
- O Lamb that hast been slain, we find in thee!
-
- The many waves of thought, the mighty tides,
- The ground-swell that rolls up from other lands,
- From far-off worlds, from dim, eternal shores,
- Whose echo dashes on life's wave-worn strands,
- This vague, dark tumult of the inner sea
- Grows calm, grows bright, O risen Lord, in thee!
-
- Thy piercèd hand guides the mysterious wheels;
- Thy thorn-crowned brow now wears the crown of power;
- And when the dread enigma presseth sore,
- Thy patient voice saith, "Watch with me one hour."
- As sinks the moaning river in the sea
- In silver peace, so sinks my soul in thee!
"The Mystery of Life"
is reprinted from The Independent, August 5, 1858. |
MORE POEMS BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE |
|