Poems (Barker)/What is Life

by Alice J. Green Barker

What Is Life.

What is life? the question ever
Fills with busy thoughts my brain:
And with strange perplexing fancies,
Oft I turn it o'er again.
Life is filled with bitter sorrow,
Seldom rays of light are given,
And the path that seems the hardest
Is the one that leads to Heaven.

Life for some is full of gladness,
Bright the golden sun doth shine,
While a dark and bitter portion
Fortune's hands to some assign.
Some go through the world enveloped
In a cloud of darkest gloom,
While for others lovely flowers
In their sweetness ever bloom.

When the golden clouds of evening
Seem like curtains partly drawn,
O'er my spirit, tired and lonely,
Pure and glorious visions dawn:
And I catch a glimpse of Heaven,
For the gate is left ajar:
Nothing in that land of sunlight
Can its peaceful quiet mar.

When the clouds have gently drifted
Closing up the little space,
What is life? again I question,
What is life, and where my place?
Have I not a field of labor?
Have I not a task to do?
Yes, I know the father sayeth
"There is work awaiting you."

Life is filled with bitter sorrow,
Rough and rugged to our feet.
Is the path that leads to duty,
And so much of woe we meet.
Life has many clouds of trouble,
Seldom rays of light are given,
And the path that seems the hardest
Is the one that leads to Heaven.