Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ROGER WILLIAMS, by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ROGER WILLIAMS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Why do I sleep amid the snows
Last Line: And so the pine boughs cover me.
Subject(s): Massachusetts; Religious Discrimination; Williams, Roger (1604-1683); Religious Conflict


WHY do I sleep amid the snows,
Why do the pine boughs cover me,
While dark the wind of winter blows
Across the Narragansett's sea?

O sense of right! O sense of right,
Whate'er my lot in life may be,
Thou art to me God's inner light,
And these tired feet must follow thee.

Yes, still my feet must onward go,
With nothing for my hope but prayer,
Amid the winds, amid the snow,
And trust the ravens of the air.

But though alone, and grieved at heart,
Bereft of human brotherhood,
I trust the whole and not the part,
And know that Providence is good.

Self-sacrifice is never lost,
But bears the seed of its reward;
They who for others leave the most,
For others gain the most from God.

O sense of right! I must obey,
And hope and trust, whate'er betide;
I cannot always know my way,
But I can always know my Guide.

And so for me the winter blows
Across the Narragansett's sea,
And so I sleep beneath the snows,
And so the pine boughs cover me.





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