The hand of the HIGHEST, who woundeth, can heal Every pang that the keenest affliction may feel: And though misery's cup may be fill'd to its brim, It can be endur'd, through obedience to HIM. I grant that the stroke which has laid thy hopes low Is perhaps the severest that nature can know; If hope but @3deferr'd,@1 may cause sickness of heart, How dreadful to see it for ever @3depart!@1 Yet, even in this hour of unutterable grief, Religion and reason may whisper relief, If the sufferer confide in the goodness of GOD, Who withholds not his @3staff,@1 when he strikes with his @3rod.@1 Though the worth of the dead may at present but be A source of additional anguish to thee; Yet a period may come, when that worth shall awake A soul-soothing sadness, belov'd for his sake. Then arise! like the monarch of Judah, repair To the house of the Lord, humbly worship him there; And may love of thy lost-one instruct thee to learn That thou may'st go to him, though he cannot return. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...O, BREATHE NOT HIS NAME! by THOMAS MOORE SONNET: DEATH-WARNINGS by FRANCISCO GOMEZ DE QUEVEDO Y VILLEGAS OCTOBER by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS SONGS OF LABOR: DEDICATION by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE BARTHOLDI STATUE by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER OF THE REED THAT THE JEWS SET IN OUR SAVIOUR'S HAND by WILLIAM ALABASTER |