PATIENCE by Mary Mapes Dodge

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 2, 1880

PATIENCE.

By Mary Mapes Dodge

Though tangled hard life's knot may be, And wearily we rue it, The silent touch of Father Time Some day will sure undo it, Then, darling, wait; Nothing is late In the light that shines forever.

We faint at heart, a friend has gone, We chafe at the world's harsh drilling; We tremble at sorrows on every side, At the myriad ways of killing. Yet, say we all, If a sparrow fall, The Lord keepeth count forever.

He keepeth count. We come, we go, We speculate, toil, and falter; But the measure to each of weal or woe, God only can give or alter. He sendeth light, He sendeth night, And change goes on forever.

Why not take life with cheerful trust, With faith in the strength of weakness? The slenderest daisy rears its head With courage, yet with meekness. A sunny face Hath holy grace, To woo the sun forever.

For ever and ever, my darling, yes— Goodness and love are undying; Only the troubles and cares of earth Are winged from the first for flying. Our way we plow In the furrow "now;" But after the tilling and growing, the sheaf; Soil for the root, but the sun for the leaf, And God keeps watch forever. —Mary Mapes Dodge.