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Home  »  The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century  »  Sir John Bowring (1792–1872)

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

By Hymns and Poems. III. Where? When? How?

Sir John Bowring (1792–1872)

WHERE? Tell me what shall be the spot

Where I shall rest from earthly care?

You need not tell—it matters not,

To senseless dust and ashes—where!

When? Shall it be my mortal fate

Longer or shorter to remain

Waiting for death or soon or late?

How little does it matter when!

How? That is wrapt in mystery;

I ask not its solution now:

He who directs all issues,—He

And He alone can order—how!

But this my trust, my joy shall be,

The where, the when, the how, are His

Whose infinite benignity

Is love and light, and peace and bliss!