To Faith (Part V. of Autumnal Leaves)

A thousand million souls arise
Out of the cradle of to-day,
And, like a living storm, beneath the skies
Go thundering on their fatal way!
But ere to-morrow’s sun
His ancient round hath run,
That storm is past—and “Where are they?”
Is asked of Faith by pale Dismay:
“Where—where are they?”
And Faith—even Faith herself—hath not a word to say.

With her serene assurance thrown
Like moonlight into the Unknown,
And all her clasping tendrils curled
About the steadfast pillars of the never-failing world,
To that wild question of Dismay
Yet hath she not a word to say:
And only lifts her patient eyes
Up from the earth’s change-trampled sod,
To fix them—out in the eternal skies—
On all she knoweth—God!