Music, and Other Poems

RELIANCE

         Not to the swift, the race:
         Not to the strong, the fight:
     Not to the righteous, perfect grace:
         Not to the wise, the light.

         But often faltering feet
         Come surest to the goal;
     And they who walk in darkness meet
         The sunrise of the soul.

         A thousand times by night
         The Syrian hosts have died;
     A thousand times the vanquished right
         Hath risen, glorified.

         The truth the wise men sought
         Was spoken by a child;
     The alabaster box was brought
         In trembling hands defiled.

         Not from my torch, the gleam,
         But from the stars above:
     Not from my heart, life's crystal stream,
         But from the depths of Love.

     October, 1903.