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Shortened Lives

Topics: classic

To us it seemed his life was too soon done,     Ended, indeed, while scarcely yet begun;     God, with His clearer vision, saw that he     Was ready for a larger ministry.     Just so we thought of Him, whose life below     Was so full-charged with bitterness and woe,     Our clouded vision would have crowned Him King,     He chose the lowly way of suffering.     Remember, too, how short His life on earth,--     But three-and-thirty years 'twixt death and birth.     And of those years but three whereof we know,     Yet those three years immortal seed did sow.     It is not tale of years that tells the whole     Of Man's success or failure, but the soul     He brings to them, the songs he sings to them,     The steadfast gaze he fixes on the goal.

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"To us it seemed his life was too soon done,..."

"Shortened Lives" is a quintessential example of William Arthur Dunkerley (John Oxenham)'s signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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"Burden-bearers are we all,     Great and small.   ..."

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