TO A LONG-PARTED FRIEND.
185
II.
I said, I do assign
A day far hence to speak with Thee; if late
Or soon it fall, I know not, for its date
Rests not with me, but One above, who draws
Our ruins to an order through the fine
And ceaseless working of His kindly laws;
For we are hasty builders incomplete;
Our Master follows after, far more slow
And far more sure than we, for frost and heat,
And winds that breathe, and waters in their flow
Work with Him silently; we stand too near
The part as yet to look upon the whole;
That thing which shall be doth not yet appear;
It is not with the eye but with the soul
That we must view God's work;
A day far hence to speak with Thee; if late
Or soon it fall, I know not, for its date
Rests not with me, but One above, who draws
Our ruins to an order through the fine
And ceaseless working of His kindly laws;
For we are hasty builders incomplete;
Our Master follows after, far more slow
And far more sure than we, for frost and heat,
And winds that breathe, and waters in their flow
Work with Him silently; we stand too near
The part as yet to look upon the whole;
That thing which shall be doth not yet appear;
It is not with the eye but with the soul
That we must view God's work;
Of when and where
We ask not wisely; if our meeting were
Delayed indeed, until no more to part
We meet at last within a Mansion fair
Where there are many such, would this impart
A sadness to thy spirit? heart with heart
May commune safely when the Master's art
Hath tuned His perfect instrument! below
We learn not half its sweetness; not for men
Its broken strings are joined; it keeps its flow
We ask not wisely; if our meeting were
Delayed indeed, until no more to part
We meet at last within a Mansion fair
Where there are many such, would this impart
A sadness to thy spirit? heart with heart
May commune safely when the Master's art
Hath tuned His perfect instrument! below
We learn not half its sweetness; not for men
Its broken strings are joined; it keeps its flow
