Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
I. The Divine Element(God, Christ, the Holy Spirit)The Eternal Goodness
John Greenleaf Whittier (18071892)O
The quiet aisles of prayer,
Glad witness to your zeal for God
And love of man I bear.
Your logic linked and strong
I weigh as one who dreads dissent,
And fears a doubt as wrong.
To hold your iron creeds:
Against the words ye bid me speak
My heart within me pleads.
Who talks of scheme and plan?
The Lord is God! He needeth not
The poor device of man.
Ye tread with boldness shod;
I dare not fix with mete and bound
The love and power of God.
His pitying love I deem:
Ye seek a king; I fain would touch
The robe that hath no seam.
A world of pain and loss:
I hear our Lord’s beatitudes
And prayer upon the cross.
Myself, alas! I know:
Too dark ye cannot paint the sin,
Too small the merit show.
I veil mine eyes for shame,
And urge, in trembling self-distrust,
A prayer without a claim.
I feel the guilt within;
I hear, with groan and travail-cries,
The world confess its sin.
And tossed by storm and flood,
To one fixed trust my spirit clings;
I know that God is good!
And seraphs may not see,
But nothing can be good in Him
Which evil is in me.
I dare not throne above,
I know not of His hate,—I know
His goodness and His love.
Of greater out of sight,
And, with the chastened Psalmist, own
His judgments too are right.
For vanished smiles I long,
But God hath led my dear ones on,
And He can do no wrong.
Of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
His mercy underlies.
To bear an untried pain,
The bruisèd reed He will not break,
But strengthen and sustain.
Nor works my faith to prove;
I can but give the gifts He gave,
And plead His love for love.
I wait the muffled oar;
No harm from Him can come to me
On ocean or on shore.
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.
If hopes like these betray,
Pray for me that my feet may gain
The sure and safer way.
Thy creatures as they be,
Forgive me if too close I lean
My human heart on Thee!