Page:Poems Greenwell.djvu/83

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PENCIL-MARKS IN A BOOK OF DEVOTION.

"It happened one day, about noon, I was exceedingly surprised with the print of a man's naked foot on the shore, which was very plain to be seen in the sand."

Strong words are these, "O Lord! I seek but Thee
Not Thine! I ask not comfort, ask not rest;
Give what, and how, and when thou wilt to me,
I bless Thee—take all back—and be Thou blest."

Sweet words are these," Lord! it is Thy love
And not thy gifts I seek; yet am as one
That loveth so I prize the least above
All other worth or sweetness under sun."

And all these lines are underscored, and here
And there a tear hath been and left its stain,
The only record, haply, of a tear
Long wiped from eyes no more to weep again;

And as I gaze, a solemn joy comes o'er me—
By these deep footprints I can surely guess
Some pilgrim by the road that lies before me
Hath crossed, long time ago, the wilderness.