Poems (Barker)/What is Life
What Is Life.
What is life? the question everFills with busy thoughts my brain:And with strange perplexing fancies,Oft I turn it o'er again.Life is filled with bitter sorrow,Seldom rays of light are given,And the path that seems the hardestIs the one that leads to Heaven.
Life for some is full of gladness,Bright the golden sun doth shine,While a dark and bitter portionFortune's hands to some assign.Some go through the world envelopedIn a cloud of darkest gloom,While for others lovely flowersIn their sweetness ever bloom.
When the golden clouds of eveningSeem like curtains partly drawn,O'er my spirit, tired and lonely,Pure and glorious visions dawn:And I catch a glimpse of Heaven,For the gate is left ajar:Nothing in that land of sunlightCan its peaceful quiet mar.
When the clouds have gently driftedClosing up the little space,What is life? again I question,What is life, and where my place?Have I not a field of labor?Have I not a task to do?Yes, I know the father sayeth"There is work awaiting you."
Life is filled with bitter sorrow,Rough and rugged to our feet.Is the path that leads to duty,And so much of woe we meet.Life has many clouds of trouble,Seldom rays of light are given,And the path that seems the hardestIs the one that leads to Heaven.