In memory of one whose breath Blessed all with words wise, loving, brave;
Whose life was service, and whose death
Unites our hearts around her grave.
Another blow has fallen, Lord—
Was it from thee?
Is it indeed thy sword
That cuts our hearts? We know thy word;
We know by heart wherein it saith
“Whom the Lord loves he chasteneth”—
But also, in another breath,
This: “The wages of sin is death.”
How may we tell what pain is good,
In mercy sent?
And what is evil through and through,
Sure consequence of what we do,
Sure product of thy broken laws,
Certain effect of given cause,
Just punishment?
Not sin of those who suffer, Lord—
To them no shame.
For father’s sins our children die
With Justice sitting idly by;
The guilty thrive nor yet ,
While sorrow strikes the innocent—
Whom shall we blame?
’Tis not that one alone is dead,
And these .
For her, for them, we grieve indeed;
But there are other hearts that bleed!
All up and down the world so wide
We suffer, Lord, on every side,—
We who are left.
See now, we bend our stricken hearts,
Patient and still,
Knowing thy laws are wholly just,
Knowing thy love commands our trust,
Knowing that good is God alone,
That pain and sorro............