’Mid scenes of mystery life’s tide rolls onward;
And tho’ some, delving deep in caves of knowledge,
Have revealed wondrous facts, this life, concerning,
Still blind they are to most of life’s great features;
How powerless to perceive the future’s movements,
Or e’en explain the present things about them!
We little more than know that we’re existing,
’Mid scenes that time and tide are changing ever.
Hope is a star that lures men ever onward,
Oft seeming near and yet forever distant;
Contentment is an isle where man, if ever,
Has seldom dwelt amid the scenes enchanting;
Love is a dew-drop on the rose-bush glowing,
Soon to depart as e’en the bush must perish:
All things of earth are like the fleeting shadows
Except the love of Him whose power and wisdom
Exceeds, by far, man’s deepest understanding,
And He, who clothes the lillies in their beauty,
Who feeds his flocks and marks the falling sparrow,
Will shield His children from life’s raging tempests,
And lead them safe through waters of affliction
Until, at last, beyond the vales and shadows,
Their eyes behold that Land of endless beauty.