p. 71 | BURDENED by Sel.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 2, 1875

BURDENED

By Sel.

No burden ever had I That I would not have had, Though times there were when I thought never again To look up to Heaven, and be glad; For, groaning and struggling on With the throngs that laden go, I saw, by the pack on my neighbor’s back, That mine was the lighter woe.

Unladen, heedless, unbent, I never had known That the fardel borne by each wight forlorn Held something that was my own— Something he bore for me With a patient ignorance, While my footsteps gay blurred his upward way And hindered his soul’s advance.

Just it was that on me Some sorrow should fall; No trouble alone is the trouble of one, But each has a share in all. And, if on my aching neck Another his burden laid, Strength given for his day then he threw away, Wherewith I was stronger made.

I know that we are not here For our selfish ease; The kingliest One that the earth has known Lived not himself to please, And they who have learned of him How a burden can give rest, And joyfully share the great human care— They have learned life’s secret best.

—Sel.