Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GOD'S OPTIMISM, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GOD'S OPTIMISM, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: God the all-powerful, god the all-wise
Last Line: This: we continue to be.
Subject(s): God


God the All-Powerful, God the All-Wise,
God with the all-piercing eyes,
How art Thou hopeful, and how dost Thou see
Good that looks evil to me!
Sawest Thou humanly (Thou art so strong)
All the world's sorrow and wrong,
Sawest Thou only (Thou with Thy might)
Half of man's burden and blight,
Seeing not also some happy design
Slow-growing line upon line,
Something we see not, perhaps cannot know,
Here in these vapors of woe --
Were this not true of Thee, what hadst Thou done,
O Thou Omnipotent One!
Long, long ago would invincible death
Have leaped from the flame of Thy breath,
Whelming the world with its wrangle of men
Back into chaos again!
O the divine, the mysterious hope,
Beyond our blundering scope!
With that great Optimist hoping on high,
Never a pessimist, I!
One sole assurance suffices for me, --
This: we continue to be.





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