Zinzendorff and Other Poems/"O come! let us walk in the light of the Lord"
"O, come! let us walk in the light of the Lord."—Isaiah ii 5.
Hope sheds on man's first waking hours
A lustre pure and fair,
And as his mind unfolds its powers
Her cheering smile is there:
But when his feet life's pathway tread
And his torn bosom bleeds,
And darkening ills around him spread
Her taper's ray recedes.
A brighter torch doth Pleasure boast
To lure his youthful way,
A meteor on a rocky coast
That dazzles to betray.
But woe if his confiding heart
Be with her fetters bound,
The syren hath a poison'd dart
And loves a secret wound.
God hath a light. It beams sublime
On every seeking eye,
When withering 'neath the blasts of time
Both hope and pleasure die:
That light we'll seek. Its ray hath power
To pierce the shrouded tomb,
And guide where tempests never lower
And sorrow dares not come.