Page:Poems Hoffman.djvu/336

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LOOKING BEYOND

Thank God there is a future, in whose sweep
These little troubled streams of time and life
Lose, and forevermore, their song and strife
As in a bottomless and boundless deep.

I would not give the Christian's simple faith
In an existence, endless and complete,
To lay earth's cities, trophies at my feet,
To earn the fame earth's proudest nation hath;

For oh! though life (this life) is dear to me
Full of bright hopes and sweet realities,
Time is a tangle of perplexities
And sadness permeates all things that be.

Who shall restore the lost, the priceless things
That eager seekers search life's pathway for?
Who shall health, guiltlessness and youth restore
Or wealth and grandeur, flown on noiseless wings?

To many, life is like a long regret;
Mistakes and failures, never understood,
Like weeds, choke out the beautiful and good;
Man most remembers when he would forget.

The errors, follies and the crimes that trace
Youth's reckless and misguided wanderings
In hidden hearts have set their deathless stings
And drawn their anguish lines on beauty's face.

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