Poems (Geisse)/A Pastor's Retrospect
A PASTOR'S RETROSPECT.
Oft I see the little chapel Where I preached in bygone years, With the courage of a prophet, And a faith undimmed by tears.
Ah! those golden days resplendent With their promises of good, When I sang as glad hosannas As the wild birds of the wood.
For I labored, never doubting That the seed I planted then, Would be wrought in nobler living, Would "uplift the hearts of men."
But to-day the sense of failure Is upon me as I preach, I am saddened by the memory Of the truths I could not teach.
Ah! the anguish of that knowledge As it slowly, surely grew. When I felt the "incompleteness" Of the work I strove to do.
For the weight of added burdens Haunted, pressed me day by day, Mourners I had failed to comfort. Sinners who had turned away.
Questions that I yearned to answer Seeking vainly for the truth, Problems that had never vexed me In the happy days of youth.
Yet I know no pain is fruitless And no work is vainly wrought, If it serves to bring us nearer To our Lord in deed and thought.
And I know, despite Life's mysteries, Secrets that must baffle man, Naught shall mar the final victory Of the great "Eternal Plan."