Poems (Hoffman)/Life's Fruition
LIFE'S FRUITION
What would life be if these few yearsOf thankless toil and bitter tears Were all and naught beyond?An utter failure void of hope,A sunless maze of narrow scopeWhere phantoms of despair would grope Throughout its narrow bound.
If like a sear and withered leaf,Unmindful grown of joy or grief, We fell asleep,Forevermore in dust to lie,While centuries passed us heedless by,Our endless heritage to die, Our doom a moldering heap.
Why were hearts given to strive and longAnd suffer by the hand of wrong; Is this their destiny?Why were minds given to grope for light,And wing through time and space their flight,But to go out in starless night, From life's dread mystery?
Alas for Love, if o'er her tombThe flowers of Hope forbid to bloom, Went quaking to the dust!Alas for Love, if her bright smileCould claim but this world's little while;Could Earth her children reconcile To shattered shrines of trust!
Alas for Thought, if fleeting timeCould crumble her immortal shrine And quench her brightest flame!Alas for Thought, if o'er her skiesNo star of hope could ever rise!Alas for Thought, when promise dies, To never bloom again!
O Faith, thou brightest sun of earth,What heart can sing thy matchless worth To helpless mortals given!Saviour, thy love's bright presence shedGilds the dark vaults where sleep the dead,And lights the gloomy vale we tread, As with the hues of Heaven.