Page:Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895).djvu/185

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 * The life that hides in mead and wold,
 * Who hangs yon alder’s crimson beads,
 * And stains these mosses green and gold,
 * Will still, as He hath done, incline
 * His gracious care to me and mine;

Grant what we ask aright, from wrong debar, And, as the earth grows dark, make brighter every star!


 * My hopes for man take form in fact,
 * But God will give the victory
 * In due time; in that faith I act.
 * And he who sees the future sure,
 * The baffling present may endure,

And bless, meanwhile, the unseen Hand that leads The heart’s desires beyond the halting step of deeds.


 * Where harsher songs of mine have flown;
 * Go, find a place at home and hearth
 * Where’er thy singer’s name is known;
 * Revive for him the kindly thought
 * Of friends; and they who love him not,

Touched by some strain of thine, perchance may take The hand he proffers all, and thank him for thy sake.

vales are sweet with fern and rose,
 * Our hills are maple-crowned;

But not from them our fathers chose
 * The village burying-ground.

The dreariest spot in all the land
 * To Death they set apart;