| |
| MY sun sinks without clouds or fears; | |
| No spectral shadows gather round | |
| The gateway of the endless years, | |
| Where we, long blindfold, are unbound, | |
| And lay our swathings on the ground, | 5 |
| To face the Eternal. So I rest | |
| Peacefully on the Strong One’s breast, | |
| Even though the mystery profound | |
| Ever a mystery be confessed. | |
| |
| My old doubts?—Well, they no more fret, | 10 |
| Nor chafe and foam o’er sunken rocks. | |
| I don’t know that my Faith is yet | |
| Quite regular and orthodox; | |
| I have not keys for all the locks, | |
| And may not pick them. Truth will bear | 15 |
| Neither rude handling, nor unfair | |
| Evasion of its wards, and mocks | |
| Whoever would falsely enter there. | |
| |
| But all through life I see a Cross, | |
| Where sons of God yield up their breath: | 20 |
| There is no gain except by loss, | |
| There is no life except by death, | |
| There is no vision but by Faith, | |
| Nor glory but by bearing shame, | |
| Nor justice but by taking blame; | 25 |
| And that Eternal Passion saith, | |
| “Be emptied of glory and right and name.” | |
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