Page:Poems Jordan.djvu/48

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THE BEST
Sweeter the song than the words express;
Deeper the music than the keys;
Nobler the fight, though 'tis triumphless,
Than is a never challenged ease.
Better the tryings than results;
Higher the heights by reaching gained
All life is mightier than its pulse;
Than the explanation is the explained.

More exhales the flow'r than its scent makes own;
Richer its meanings than its tints;
The growing is not unmasked in the grown,
And its form of the Moulding Hand but hints.
Better the giving than the gift,
And the better doing hides in deeds;
Better are clouds the sun to rift
Than light which blinds us to our needs.

Better the weakness that grasps God,
Than trusted self-sufficiency;
Better, though thornier, the road,
If Faith, not Reason, leader be.
Better are empty hands, outspread
To take the gifts which Love supplies,
Than hands too full to hold a need
For that, alone, which satisfies.

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