THE ANSWER
Not all unanswered now—the question of my soul
Asked of the cliff's age-furrowed brow,
Lost in the billow's roll;
For softer, grander than human speech
Are the answering thoughts that soothe and teach,
Thoughts launched by God, like sea-weed thrown
On the restless waves of life's great unknown,
Cast up on life's wave-washed beach.
Pure, calm, as a dove to its sheltered nest
My answer came on the wave's white crest.
Asked of the cliff's age-furrowed brow,
Lost in the billow's roll;
For softer, grander than human speech
Are the answering thoughts that soothe and teach,
Thoughts launched by God, like sea-weed thrown
On the restless waves of life's great unknown,
Cast up on life's wave-washed beach.
Pure, calm, as a dove to its sheltered nest
My answer came on the wave's white crest.
The question: (This was the troubled thing—
A mourning dove with a broken wing.)
Tell me, oh billows, that roll on roll
Speak more than all things to the human soul!
Why must one spirit feel every dart
That has rent the body or pierced the heart,
Mental and physical, heart and brain,
Is there left one link in life's jeweled chain
That has not quivered with human pain?
A mourning dove with a broken wing.)
Tell me, oh billows, that roll on roll
Speak more than all things to the human soul!
Why must one spirit feel every dart
That has rent the body or pierced the heart,
Mental and physical, heart and brain,
Is there left one link in life's jeweled chain
That has not quivered with human pain?
The answer: (This was the heavenly thing—
A peaceful dove with a jeweled wing
That fluttered down from the billow's crest
And crossed its wings on a troubled breast.)
"Thou art given the priceless, jeweled key
That unlocks the great heart of humanity,
Thou hast felt their labor, their strife, their pain
Their weary heartaches, their grief and care,
Their bitter struggles and dark despair;
Let not one knock at thy heart in vain."
A peaceful dove with a jeweled wing
That fluttered down from the billow's crest
And crossed its wings on a troubled breast.)
"Thou art given the priceless, jeweled key
That unlocks the great heart of humanity,
Thou hast felt their labor, their strife, their pain
Their weary heartaches, their grief and care,
Their bitter struggles and dark despair;
Let not one knock at thy heart in vain."
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