Poems (Coolidge)/The Silent Years

by Helen Elizabeth Coolidge

THE SILENT YEARS

There is a silence that enfolds
 Those years in Nazareth spent;
When, with His humble, daily toil
 Our dear Lord lived content.

And yet—in all those silent years
 Obedience was learned;
And He "was subject unto them"
 Proves no wise counsel spurned.

There is a silence that enfolds
 The Father's plan for thee;
Yet if a Nazareth He choose
 Submissive thou shouldest be.

And should across some future years
 A cross in shadowy fall,
The braver wilt thou bear its weight,
 Or heed a clarion call.

For silent years have made of thee
 A soldier brave and bold;
Oh, welcome, then, the silent years,
 And lessons they may hold.