Passive Resignation

Thy brothers, they are mortal, they must tread

Ofttimes in rough, hard ways, with bleeding feet;

Must fight with dragons, must bewail their dead,

And fierce Apollyon face to face must meet.

Was God, then, kinder unto thee than them,

thou whose little life was but a span?

Ah, think it not ! In all his diadem

No star shines brighter than the kingly man

Who nobly earns whatever crown he wears,

Who grandly conquers, or as grandly dies,

And the white banner of his manhood bears

Through all the years uplifted to the skies!

What lofty paeans shall the victor greet!

What crown resplendent for his brow be fit!

O child, if earthly life be bitter-sweet,

Hast thou not something missed in missing it?

Julia C. R. Dorr