POEM: FAITH

A wall

Gray and tall,

And a sky of gray,

And a twilight cold;

And that is all

That my eyes behold.

But I know that unseen,

Beyond the wall,

On a lawn of green

White blossoms fall

In the waning light;

And beyond the lawn

Curtains are drawn

From windows bright.

And within she moves with her gracious hands

And the heart that loves and that understands,

Waiting to succour poor souls in need,

And to bind with her blessing the hearts that bleed.

I know it all, though I cannot see;

But the tired-out tramp,

Dirty and ill,

In the evening's damp,

In the Spring's clean chill,

Knows not that there

Is the heart to care

For such as I and for such as he.

He slouches along, and sees alone

The gray of the sky and the gray of the stone.

Lord, when my eyes see nothing but grey

In all Thy world that is now so green,

I will bethink me of this spring day

And the house of welcome, known yet unseen;

The wall that conceals

And the faith that reveals.