BEGINNING AGAIN.
When, sometimes, our feet grow weary,
On the rugged hills of life
The path stretching long and dreary
With trial and labor rife
We pause on the toilsome journey,
Glancing backward in valley and glen,
And sigh with an infinite longing
To return and begin again.
For behind is the dew of the morning,
In all its freshness and light;
And before are doubts and shadows,
And the chill and gloom of the night.
We remember the sunny places
We passed so carelessly then,
And ask, with a passionate longing,
To return and begin again.
Ah, vain, indeed, is the asking!
Life's duties press all of us on,
And who dare shrink from the labor,
Or sigh for the sunshine that's gone!
And it may not be far on before us
Wait fairer places than then;
Life's paths may yet lead by still waters,
Though we may not begin again.
Forevermore upward and onward
Be our paths on the hills of life,
And soon will a radiant dawning
Transfigure the toil and the strife,
And our Father's hand will lead us
Tenderly upward then;
In the joy and peace of a fairer world,
He'll let us begin again.