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The Things I Miss

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 30, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 59.

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The Things I Miss

By Thomas Wentworth Higginson

An easy thing, O Power divine, To thank thee for these gifts of thine, For summer's sunshine, winter's snow, The hearts that burn, the thoughts that glow; But when shall I attain to this, To thank thee for the things I miss?
For all young fancy's early gleams, The dreamed-of joys, that still are dreams, Hopes unfulfilled, and pleasures known Through others' fortunes, not my own, And blessings seen that are not given, And never will be, this side heaven.
Had I, too, shared the joys I see, Would there have been a heaven for me? Should I have felt thy being near, Had I possessed what I hold dear? My deepest knowledge, highest bliss, Have come perchance from things I miss.
Today has brought an hour of calm; Grief turns to blessing, pain to balm; I feel a power above my will That draws me, draws me onward still. And now my heart attains to this, To thank thee for the things I miss.
—Thomas Wentworth Higginson.