INCONSISTENCY

When dawns some day fairer than other days, And all the mountain passes are aglow With its supernal splendor, and the low, Dim valleys sleeping in the woodland ways Waken to glorious life at morn’s first rays,— When happy birds sing, and all winds that blow, Laden with seeds of blessing come and go, And earth no secret of her woe betrays,— Then, O belovèd, when my heart is light And all is well with me, and pain and care Have vanished as a dream of last year’s rose Fades with the passing of a summer night, My soul in ecstasy of love and prayer Cries: “God, I thank thee that he knows, he knows!”

But on some other day, when skies unroll Their storm-cloud banners only, and the beat Of the wild tempest is like hurrying feet That stay not, halt not, till they reach the goal; When doubt and dread assail my fainting soul, And, when I fain God’s mercy would entreat, Even the prayers my trembling lips repeat Seem like the clamor of harsh bells that toll— Then, thinking of thee in some far, dim realm,— Dim to our senses, glorious to thine,— Where never once a cruel wind doth blow, Nor storm, nor stress, come near thee to o’erwhelm, I lift mine eyes unto the hills divine, And cry: “Thank God, thank God, he does not know!”