LOVE'S COURAGE

Courage have I to face all bitter things,

That start out darkly from the rugged path,

Leading to life's achievement; not God's wrath

Would sit so heavy when my lady sings.

I did not know what life meant till I felt

Her hand clasp mine in compact to the end;

Till her dear voice said, “See, I am your friend!”

And at her feet, amazed, my spirit knelt.

And yet I spoke but hoarsely then my thought,

I groped amid a thousand forces there;

Her understanding all my meaning caught,

It was illumined in her atmosphere.

She read it line by line, and then there fell

The curtain on the shrine-and it is well.