Poems of Cheer/Guerdon

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Upon the white cheek of the Cherub Year
      I saw a tear.
Alas! I murmured, that the Year should borrow
      So soon a sorrow.
Just then the sunlight fell with sudden flame:
      The tear became
A wondrous diamond sparkling in the light -
      A beauteous sight.

Upon my soul there fell such woeful loss,
      I said, "The Cross
Is grievous for a life as young as mine."
      Just then, like wine,
God's sunlight shone from His high Heavens down;
      And lo! a crown
Gleamed in the place of what I thought a burden -
      My sorrow's guerdon.