Faith and Fact

There is no gleam of glory gone,
For those who read in Nature's Book;
No lack of triumph in their look
Who stand in Her Eternal Dawn.

Friends of a failing Faith! while your
Lighthouses of eternal life
Hold tremulous lamps across the strife,
That die and darken hour by hour;

And higher climb the waves that drench,
And on the rocks the breakers roar;
While Light for you opes no new door;

And higher climb the waves that quench, —
While Heaven-sealers in the dust
Sit, with their hopes dead or discrowned;
Their splendid dreams all shivered round,
And broken every reed of trust, —
While timid souls that sail the sea
Of Time are fearful lest yon band
Of Cloud should not be solid Land,
To step on for Eternity, —
And faint hearts flutter 'twixt a nest
That is not sealed to wind and wet,
And one that is not ready yet,
With wandering wings, and find no rest. —
There is no gleam of glory gone
For those who read in Nature's Book;
No lack of triumph in their look,
"Who live in her Eternal Dawn!