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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TRUST by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE SAME OLD BAFFLING QUESTIONS! O MY FRIEND
Last Line: WHO MOVES TO HIS GREAT END UNTHWARTED BY THE ILL.
Subject(s): MOTHERS; WORSHIP;

THE same old baffling questions! O my friend,
I cannot answer them. In vain I send
My soul into the dark where never burn
The lamps of science, nor the natural light
Of reason's sun and stars! I cannot learn
Their great and solemn meaning, nor discern
The awful secrets of the eyes which turn
Evermore on us through day and night,
With silent challenge, and a dumb demand
Proffering the riddle of the dead unknown,
Like the calm Sphinxes, with their eyes of stone,
Questioning the centuries from the vale of sand.
I have no answer for myself or thee
Save that I learned beside my mother's knee;
"All is of God and is to be;
And God is good." Let this suffice us still,
Resting in childlike trust upon His will
Who moves to His great end unthwarted by the ill.



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