We know the worst -- the darkest doom That lies beyond the sinner's tomb, The long, black agonies of hell That loving Voice spared not to tell. The merest gleam of heaven sufficed Heaven's Herald, the revealing Christ; But sin He showed, and penalty, How faithfully! how anxiously! As when a father sends his son Out in the clashing world alone, He warns him of the evil there, Nor stays to picture what is fair. What glories, then, what mysteries, Lie in the Saviour's silences! What bliss we could not have believed, Eye hath not seen nor mind conceived! The dearest wish, the fondest hope, The fair ideal's farthest scope, No longer doubt, but dare to know; He would have said, were these not so | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LAUGHERS by LOUIS UNTERMEYER THE NEW INN: A VISION OF BEAUTY by BEN JONSON ODE ON A GRECIAN URN by JOHN KEATS SHERIDAN AT CEDAR CREEK by HERMAN MELVILLE TO A LADY: SHE REFUSING TO CONTINUE A DISPUTE WITH ME by MATTHEW PRIOR DAFFODILS by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE THE THREE ENEMIES by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI SONNET UPON HISTORIE OF GEORGE CASTRIOT, ALIAS SCANDERBERG by EDMUND SPENSER |