A Silver Lining to Every Cloud.
The poet or priest who told us this
Served mankind in the holiest way;
For it lit up the earth with the star of bliss
That beacons the soul with cheerful ray.
Too often we wander despairing and blind,
Breathing our useless murmurs aloud;
But 'tis kinder to bid us seek and find
"A silver lining to every cloud." May we not walk in the dingle ground
Where nothing but Autumn's dead leaves are seen;
But search beneath them, and peeping around
Are the young spring tufts of blue and green.
'Tis a beautiful eye that ever perceives
The presence of God in Mortality's crowd,
'Tis a saving creed that thinks and believes
"There's a silvery lining to every cloud." Let us look closely before we condemn
Bushes that bear no bloom nor fruit,
There may not be beauty in leaves or stem,
But virtue may dwell far down at the root.
And let us beware how we utterly spurn
Brothers that seem all cold and proud,
If their bosoms were open'd, perchance we might learn
"There's a silver lining to every cloud." Let us not cast out Mercy and Truth,
When guilt is before us in chains and shame,
When passion and vice have cankered youth,
And Age lives on with a branded name;
Something of good may still be there,
Though its voice may never be heard aloud,
For, while black with the vapors of pestilent air,
"There's a silver lining to every cloud." Sad are the sorrows that oftentimes come,
Heavy, and dull, and blighting and chill,
Shutting the light from our heart and our home,
Marring our hopes and defying our will;
But let us not sink beneath the woe,
'Tis well perchance we are tried and bowed,
For be sure, though we may not oft see it below,
"There's a silver lining to every cloud." And when stern Death, with skeleton hand,
Has snatched the flower that grew in our breast,
Do we not think of a fairer land,
Where the lost are found, and the weary at rest?
Oh the hope of the unknown future springs,
In its purest strength o'er the coffin and shroud.
The shadow is dense, but Faith's spirit-voice sings
"There's a silver lining to every cloud."