Page:Fourteen sonnets and poems.djvu/41

 Answered INCE I am here, the wherefore do I ask? No single thought, or word, or act combined Can I therein for once the answer find, Or comprehend at all life's mighty task. If life to me be what there is of life, Through all my numbered years must I reveal Each day the force and depth of what I feel, With conscience warmed to duties new and rife. For what I ask alone must I contend, Like him who riches sought in storied field, Which could not of itself its treasure yield, Till stirred, by patient toil, from end to end. Thus shall the world, in full of her design, Bestow on me what really is divine.