Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SPINNING, by HELEN MARIA HUNT FISKE JACKSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SPINNING, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Like a blind spinner in the sun
Last Line: "thou poor blind spinner, work is done."
Alternate Author Name(s): H. H.; Holm, Saxe; Jackson, Helen Hunt
Subject(s): Religion; Spinning; Theology


Like a blind spinner in the sun,
I tread my days;
I know that all the threads will run
Appointed ways;
I know each day will bring its task,
And being blind, no more I ask.

I do not know the use or name
Of that I spin,
I only know that someone came,
And laid within
My hand the thread, and said, "Since you
Are blind, but one thing you can do."

Sometimes the threads so rough and fast
And tangled fly,
I know wild storms are sweeping past
And fear that I
Shall fall; but dare not try to find
A safer place, since I am blind.

I know not why, but I am sure
That time and place,
In some great fabric to endure
Past time and race
My threads will have; so from the first,
Though blind, I never felt accurst.

I think, perhaps, this trust has sprung
From one short word
Said over me when I was young—
So young, I heard
It, knowing not that God's name signed
My brow, and sealed me His, though blind.

But whether this be seal or sign,
Within, without,
It matters not. The bond Divine
I never doubt.
I know He set me here, and still
And glad, and blind, I wait His will;

But listen, listen, day by day,
To hear their tread
Who bear the finished web away,
And cut the thread,
And bring God's message in the sun,
"Thou poor blind spinner, work is done."





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