Page:Poems Jackson.djvu/133

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LAND.
89
Blindfolded and alone I wait;
Loss seems too bitter, gain too late;
Too heavy burdens in the load
And too few helpers on the road;
And joy is weak and grief is strong,
And years and days so long, so long:
Yet this one thing I learn to know
Each day more surely as I go,
That I am glad the good and ill
By changeless law are ordered still,
    "Not as I will."

"Not as I will ": the sound grows sweet
Each time my lips the words repeat.
"Not as I will": the darkness feels
More safe than light when this thought steals
Like whispered voice to calm and bless
All unrest and all loneliness.
"Not as I will," because the One
Who loved us first and best has gone
Before us on the road, and still
For us must all his love fulfil,
    "Not as we will."


LAND.
O LAND, sweet land! New World! my world!
No mortal knows what seas I sail
With hope and faith which never fail,
With heart and will which never quail,