Page:Poems Trask.djvu/29

FAITH.

When threatening clouds of gloom and darkness rise,
 And shut me out from all the cheering light
That hope and love shed on my life's fair skies,
 And joy's glad day gives place to sorrow's night,—
When buds of promise fade before they bloom,
 And crystal cups break at the fountain's brink,
Or spill their sweetest nectar to make room
 For bitter draughts He giveth me to drink,—
Shall I complain, and let my heart despair,
 And from Faith's golden chain remove a link?

If thorns do pierce me unto bitterest pain,
 They pierced the One who suffered for my sin;
If burdens press me sorely when I fain
 Would rest, shall dark doubt enter in
To clog my soul and bind it unto dust?
 To turn my poor eyes earthward evermore?
To dim the sweet perfection of my trust,—
 To cloud in maze of fear th' eternal shore?
To make my feet slip from the narrow way
 That ends at last before the opening Door?

From the fierce warfare of the elements,
 From thunder, lightning, hail, and driving rain,
From wild tornadoes, when tried Nature vents
 In shuddering throes her agony of pain,—