Classic Poem

A SUMMER'S day in leafy June;
The birds were all in sweetest tune,
The roses at their best;
But fairest of all things to see,
That perfect day in June for me,
A blue-bird's peaceful nest.

I found it in a hollow shell
Which crowned, as I remember well,
A shapely pyramid;
Five little eggs were also there,
Blue as the sky when 'tis most fair,
Half in the grasses hid.

O favored shell! whose kindred went
On cruel errands to be sent,
To mutilate and kill;
Whilst thou, removed from all the strife,
Dost feel with love and dawning life
Thy bosom gently thrill.

I said, " This thing which here I see
Shall be a precious prophecy
Of what the world shall win,
When all the days of war shall cease,
And all the blessed years of peace
Shall gloriously begin. "

And better yet: peace after war
Hath many an ugly rent and scar
For time to smooth away;
But peace in war doth not await
A blessing coming slow and late, —
Its blessing is to-day.

My bird's-nest in the hollow shell,
A heaven miniature in hell,
Shall symbol be of this:
That in and through and over all,
Whatever seeming curse befall,
God's love for ever is.

He doth not wait till war is done,
And all its barren victories won,
To enter at the door;
But in the furnace of the strife
He bears for aye a charmed life,
And blesses evermore.

Deep at the heart of all our pain,
In loss as surely as in gain,
His love abideth still.
Let come what will, my feet shall stand
On this firm rock at His right hand:
" Father, it is Thy will. "