Classic Poem

A ROSE , in tatters on the garden path,
Cried out to God and murmured 'gainst His Wrath,
Because a sudden wind at twilight's hush
Had snapped her stem alone of all the bush.
And God, Who hears both sun-dried dust and sun,
Had pity, whispering to that luckless one.
" Sister, in that thou sayest We did not well —
" What voices heardst thou when thy petals fell? "
And the Rose answered, " In that evil hour
" A voice said, " Father, wherefore falls the flower?
" " For lo, the very gossamers are still."
" And a voice answered, " Son, by Allah's Will!" "

Then softly as a rain-mist on the sward,
Came to the Rose the Answer of the Lord:
" Sister, before We smote the Dark in twain,
" Ere yet the Stars saw one another plain,
" Time, Tide, and Space, We bound unto the task
" That thou shouldst fall, and such an one should ask. "
Whereat the withered flower, all content,
Died as they die whose days are innocent;
While he who questioned why the flower fell
Caught hold of God and saved his soul from Hell.