I hoped that with the brave and strong My portioned task might lie; To toil amid the busy throng With purpose pure and high; But God has fixed another part, And He has fixed it well; I said so with my breaking heart, When first this anguish fell. These weary hours will not be lost, These days of misery, These nights of darkness, tempest-tost-- Can I but turn to Thee; With secret labor to sustain In patience every blow, To gather fortitude from pain, And holiness from woe. If Thou shouldst bring me back to life, More humble I should be, More wise, more strengthened for the strife, More apt to lean on Thee; Should death be standing at the gate, Thus should I keep my vow, But, Lord! whatever be my fate, Oh, let me serve Thee now! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PEACE by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS TO ROSAMONDE: A BALADE by GEOFFREY CHAUCER WYNKEN, BLYNKEN AND NOD by EUGENE FIELD TWO RED ROSES ACROSS THE MOON by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) THE DEAR PRESIDENT by JOHN JAMES PIATT WHICH WAS MOST TRULY DEAD? by CHARLES AUGUSTIN SAINTE-BEUVE THE ETERNAL GOODNESS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |