Patience

I.     I saw how the patient Sun         Hasted untiringly     The self-same old race to run;         Never aspiringly     Seeking some other road         Through the blue heaven     Than the one path which God         Long since had given; -             And I said; - "Patient Sun,             Teach me my race to run,             Even as thine is done,                 Steadfastly ever;             Weakly, impatiently                 Wandering never!"     II.     I saw how the patient Earth         Sat uncomplainingly,     While, in his boisterous mirth,         Winter disdainingly     Mocked at her steadfast trust,         That, from its icy chain,     Spring her imprisoned dust         Soon would release again; -             And I said; - "Patient Earth,             Biding thy hour of dearth,             Waiting the voice of mirth                 Soon to re-waken,             Teach me like thee to trust,                 Steadfast, unshaken!"     III.     I saw how the patient Stream         Hasted unceasingly,     Mindless of shade or gleam,         Onward increasingly, -     Widening, deepening         Its rocky bed ever,     That it might thus take in         River by river; -             And I said, - "Patient Stream,             Hasting through shade and gleam,             Careless of noontide beam,                 Loitering never,             So teach thou me to press                 Onward forever!"     IV.     I saw how the Holiest One         Sat in the Heaven,     Watching each earth-born son         Sin-tossed and driven, -     Watching war's mad'ning strife -         Brother 'gainst brother,     Reckless of love and life,         Slaying each other; -             And I said; - "Patient One,             On thy exalted throne,             Never impatient grown                 With our dark sinning,             Though all its depth thou'st known                 From the beginning -     V.     "Though thy fair Earth has been         Blood-dyed for ages,     Though in her valleys green,         Carnage still rages,     Thou, o'er whose brow serene,         Calmest and Holiest!     Angel has never seen,         E'en toward Earth's lowliest,             Shadows impatient sweep             Teach me, like thee, to keep             In my soul, still and deep,                 Wavering never,             Patience - a steady light,                 Burning forever!"