Classic Poem

Is it so sweet to feel a friendship near?
To know a hovering presence in the place,
And through shut eyes be conscious of a face
With gaze intense and full of sleepless cheer,
Which says: “I love thee wholly. I am here?”—
Is this so sweet? Is this a heaven of grace
That doth repay us for the weary race?
For all life's tumult loud and conflict drear?
—Ay, this is sweet.—But there's a heaven higher,
A soul shall know that takes its lonely stand
In an embattled place, and sees the land
Naked around it, black, and scarred by fire;
Then learns, in very loneliness, to aspire
To God,—and finds life's victory in its hand.