Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.—Ephesians, 5:14.
Full many a time and oft, I read
In lines of measured melody
Wherein the poet's heart breathed forth
Such words as these to comfort earth:
"Hope springs eternal in the breast;"
And yet, no ray of hope or love
Made radiant the deepening gloom.
Like some lone mariner at sea,
Through starless night and lowering day,
Still searching with a leaden heart
For a white sail to bear him home,
So I gazed o'er the sea of life,
Whereon despair's long, gruesome night
Had settled down.
Sin, sickness, death on every hand,
Had strewn life's sea with countless wrecks,
And all my fleet of youth's bright hopes,
Lay stranded on the hidden reefs of sin.
Mid gathering gloom I knelt and prayed
I knew not what, I knew not how,
But all my heart went out to seek
A help divine beyond earth's ken.
Lo, from the east, a dawning Light,
With radiance divine, broke forth,
And, standing in the glistering midst,
I saw the pure white Christ.
Now cease my wanderings evermore,
The Comforter is here, and all
The world is jubliant with joy;
At last, the Master's word fulfilled
Has transformed earth, and heaven dwells
Within the heart of man.
