Poems (Trask)/Faith

by Clara Augusta Jones Trask

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,—

Come forth those days when all the atmosphere
 Is redolent and ripe with tender glow,—
Those perfect days when heaven stoops down so near
 The angels fan us with their wings of snow;
So cometh perfect peace and faith in God
 To human hearts when wrung with bitterest woe.

All trials that befall are for our good;
 We would not lose a single chastening touch
If thoroughly God's plan we understood,
 And knew affliction profiteth so much!
Oh, let me wear my Faith, an amulet,
 That shall ward off all doubt! Make me thine own;
And early though my sun of life shall set,
 Give me the grace to say,—"Thy 'will be done!"
And, holding not the things of earth too close,
 Turn unto God, and cling to Him alone.