The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 3.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

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[348] Then faint not, falter not, nor plead
     Thy weakness; truth itself is strong;
The lion's strength, the eagle's speed,
     Are not alone vouchsafed to wrong.

Thy nature, which, through fire and flood,
     To place or gain finds out its way,
Hath power to seek the highest good,
     And duty's holiest call obey!

Strivest thou in darkness?—Foes without
     In league with traitor thoughts within;
Thy night-watch kept with trembling Doubt
     And pale Remorse the ghost of Sin?

Hast thou not, on some week of storm,
     Seen the sweet Sabbath breaking fair,
And cloud and shadow, sunlit, form
     The curtains of its tent of prayer?

So, haply, when thy task shall end,
     The wrong shall lose itself in right,
And all thy week-day darkness blend
     With the long Sabbath of the light! “

1854.