A QUERY
If nature feels the thrill of might
In every leaf and blade and flower
That struggles upward toward the light
Obedient to some hidden power;
Why does man grovel in the dust
And foster greed and pride and lust,
Instead of reaching up and striving
Toward a higher, nobler living?
In every leaf and blade and flower
That struggles upward toward the light
Obedient to some hidden power;
Why does man grovel in the dust
And foster greed and pride and lust,
Instead of reaching up and striving
Toward a higher, nobler living?
THE STREAM OF LIFE
I stood at morn upon the crowded street
Where men of every clime and country throng,
Where rich and poor and high and lowly meet,
And mingle in the tide that sweeps along,
And sought to read upon that troubled sea
Where righteousness went side by side with wrong,
The hopes and fears of all humanity,
And this became the burden of my song.
Oh! darkly rushing stream, one moment stay,
And let me linger on life's sunny shore,
And dip more deeply into human lore,
And learn to love and trust and truly weigh
The things of life ere it shall be no more—
But still the stream swept onward as before.
Where men of every clime and country throng,
Where rich and poor and high and lowly meet,
And mingle in the tide that sweeps along,
And sought to read upon that troubled sea
Where righteousness went side by side with wrong,
The hopes and fears of all humanity,
And this became the burden of my song.
Oh! darkly rushing stream, one moment stay,
And let me linger on life's sunny shore,
And dip more deeply into human lore,
And learn to love and trust and truly weigh
The things of life ere it shall be no more—
But still the stream swept onward as before.
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