Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume IV. The Higher Life. 1904. | | | | IV. Sabbath: Worship: Creed | | “O yet we trust that somehow good” | | Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | From “In Memoriam,” LIII.
O YET we trust that somehow good | |
| Will be the final goal of ill, | |
| To pangs of nature, sins of will, | |
| Defects of doubt, and taints of blood; | |
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| That nothing walks with aimless feet; | 5 |
| That not one life shall be destroyed, | |
| Or cast as rubbish to the void, | |
| When God hath made the pile complete; | |
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| That not a worm is cloven in vain; | |
| That not a moth with vain desire | 10 |
| Is shrivelled in a fruitless fire, | |
| Or but subserves another’s gain. | |
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| Behold, we know not anything; | |
| I can but trust that good shall fall | |
| At last—far off—at last, to all, | 15 |
| And every winter change to spring. | |
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| So runs my dream: but what am I? | |
| An infant crying in the night: | |
| An infant crying for the light: | |
| And with no language but a cry. | 20 | | | |
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