Poems (Barker)/What is the use of fretting

by Alice J. Green Barker

What is the Use of Fretting?

What is the use of fretting,
 And wearing our life away
With the little trials and crosses
 That meet us every day?
They will only make us stronger
 If we use them to our good;
They are surely blessings to us
 But how little understood!

What is the use of fretting
 When through this bustling world,
In a sort of wild contusion,
 We seem to be ever hurled,
While others are gently carried
 And feel not the grief and pain;
And their white hands have no labor
 And are free from the slightest stain?

What is the use, I wonder?
 Will it bring our lost time back
And set our feet so erring,
 In a purer, better track?
And will it cause the sinning
 Of this bustling world to cease,
And carry us still more gently
 In the way of perfect peace?

Will it make us happier, better?
 And nearer our loving God?
To fret and repine, and murmur,
 At the hand which holds the rod?
Will it bring to us more of sunshine
 If we weep when the clouds are low?
If we raise our hands with wailing,
 Will it ward from us the blow?

What is the use of fretting
 And wearing life away,
With the little trials and crosses
 That meet us every day?
They will only make us stronger
 If we use them to our good,
They are surely blessings to us
 But how little understood.