My heart was musing o'er its daily task
Of patient effort in the narrow way,
And so was lifted in a prayer to ask
Wisdom to learn the lesson for each day;
Then came the answer, gentle as a dove,
"The only lesson to be learned is love."
Love shall surmount the overhanging steep
Of self, in varied forms of human guise;
Shall wake the slumbering thought from mortal sleep,
And gently bid it to true being rise.
For clear the clarion call to us to-day,
Who strive to live the truth that makes us free,
From one whose selfless life has led the way,—
"Love thou! and sin, disease, and death shall flee."
O may we learn the love that casts out fear,—
The perfect love that frees from error's thrall.
That knows, midst seeming ill, that God is here,—
And humbly yield to Him our earthly all.
