Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CHRISTIAN CALLING, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CHRISTIAN CALLING, by                    
First Line: "thy night is dark; behold, the shade was deeper"
Last Line: And the bright morning yet will break for thee
Subject(s): Christianity


THY night is dark; behold, the shade was deeper
In the old garden of Gethsemane,
When that calm voice awoke the weary sleeper:
"Couldst thou not watch one hour alone with me?"

O thou, so weary of thy self-denials!
And so impatient of thy little cross,
Is it so hard to bear thy daily trials,
To count all earthly things a gainful loss?

What if thou always suffer tribulation,
And if thy Christian warfare never cease;
The gaining of the quiet habitation
Shall gather thee to everlasting peace.

But here we all must suffer, walking lonely
The path that Jesus once himself hath gone:
Watch thou in patience through the dark hour only,
This one dark hour,—before the eternal dawn.

The captive's oar may pause upon the galley,
The soldier sleep beneath his plumèd crest,
And Peace may fold her wing o'er hill and valley,
But thou, O Christian! must not take thy rest.

Thou must walk on, however man upbraid thee,
With Him who trod the wine-press all alone;
Thou wilt not find one human hand to aid thee,
One human soul to comprehend thine own.

Heed not the images forever thronging
From out the foregone life thou liv'st no more;
Faint-hearted mariner! still art thou longing
For the dim line of the receding shore.

Canst thou forget thy Christian supersciption,
"Behold, we count them happy which endure"?
What treasure wouldst thou, in the land Egyptian,
Repass the stormy water to secure?

Poor, wandering soul! I know that thou art seeking
Some easier way, as all have sought before,
To silence the reproachful inward speaking,—
Some landward path unto an island shore.

O, that thy faithless soul, one great hour only,
Would comprehend the Christian's perfect life;
Despised with Jesus, sorrowful and lonely,
Yet calmly looking upward in its strife.

In meek obedience to the heavenly Teacher,
Thy weary soul can find its only peace;
Seeking no aid from any human creature,—
Looking to God alone for his release.

And he will come in his own time and power
To set his earnest-hearted children free:
Watch only through this dark and painful hour,
And the bright morning yet will break for thee.





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