Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE VICTORY OF FAITH by WILLIAM STEWARD GORDON

First Line: WHAT DID THE SOBBING NIGHT WIND SAY
Last Line: "HEAVEN IS TRUE, BE BRAVE, BE BRAVE."
Subject(s): FAITH; GOD; NATIVE AMERICANS - RELIGION; BELIEF; CREED;

What did the sobbing night wind say
As it bore my thoughts across that bay
Where dying comrades waved their hand
And vanished into the shadow land?
Each surge and swell was a funeral knell
And only tolled "Farewell, farewell!"

And the word was wafted, wail on wail,
Like a wounded wind in a tattered sail,
Till my heart grew sick of the grief-blown bay,
And I looked beyond to the Gates of Day,
And I cried, "O God, touch thou mine ear—
At the turn o' the tide I wait to hear!"

Now, this is the message that floats to me
On the wings of Faith from the Infinite sea,
Fresh from the lips we laid in the sod,
Now limpid with life and the glory of God—
Singing and ringing it crosses the wave,
"Heaven is true, be brave, be brave."



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