Classic Poem

When earth, and sea, and sky spread fair
In flawlessly transparent air;
When every blade of grass was kind,
And my own joyous peace of mind
Seemed part of a world-mood serene
Where restlessness had never been,
Too soon there stirred a wind of change,
A doubt that made the beauty strange,
A fear, mist-like, in-drifting dim,
Because I nowhere met with Him.

But when the flesh and spirit quailed
For very pain; when the will failed;
When, far from tenderest voice or hand,
I crept into a desert land
Of haggard grass and thorns, wherein
Was lonely covert for my sin;
When, even my grief turned faint and dumb,
I waited what new ill might come,
In that transfigured, awful place,
Did I not see Him face to face?