O MYSTERY of life,

That, after all our strife,

Defeats, mistakes,

Just as, at last, we see

The road to victory,

The tired heart breaks.

Just as the long years give

Knowledge of how to live,

Life's end draws near;

As if, that gift being ours,

God needed our new powers

In worlds elsewhere.

There, if the soul whose wings

Were won in suffering, springs

To life anew,

Justice would have some room

For hope beyond the tomb,

And mercy, too.And since, without this dream

No light, no faintest gleam

Answers our "why";

But earth and all its race

Must pass and leave no trace

On that blind sky;

Shall reason close that door

On all we struggled for,

Seal the soul's doom;

Make of this universe

One wild answering curse,

One lampless tomb?

Mine be the dream, the creed

That leaves for God, indeed,

For God, and man,

One open door whereby

To prove His world no lie

And crown His plan.