THE LESSON OF DEATH. TO S. T. D.

 In memory of one whose breath

Blessed all with words wise, loving, brave;

Whose life was service, and whose death

Unites our hearts around her grave.

Another blow has fallen, Lord—

Was it from thee?

Is it indeed thy fiery¹ sword

That cuts our hearts? We know thy word;

We know by heart wherein it saith

“Whom the Lord loves he chasteneth”—

But also, in another breath,

This: “The wages of sin is death.”

How may we tell what pain is good,

In mercy sent?

And what is evil through and through,

Sure consequence of what we do,

Sure product of thy broken laws,

Certain effect of given cause,

Just punishment?

Not sin of those who suffer, Lord—

To them no shame.

For father’s sins our children die

With Justice sitting idly by;

The guilty thrive nor yet repent²,

While sorrow strikes the innocent—

Whom shall we blame?

’Tis not that one alone is dead,

And these bereft³.

For her, for them, we grieve indeed;

But there are other hearts that bleed!

All up and down the world so wide

We suffer, Lord, on every side,—

We who are left.

See now, we bend our stricken hearts,

Patient and still,

Knowing thy laws are wholly just,

Knowing thy love commands our trust,

Knowing that good is God alone,

That pain and sorrow are our own,

And seeking out of all our pain

To struggle up to God again—

Teach us thy will!

When shall we learn by common joy

Broad as the sun,

By common effort, common fear,

All common life that holds us near,

And this great bitter common pain

Coming again and yet again—

That we are one?

Yea, one. We cannot sin apart,

Suffer alone;

Nor keep our goodness to ourselves

Like precious things on hidden shelves.

Because we each live not our best,

Some one must suffer for the rest—

For we are one!

Our pain is but the voice of wrong—

Lord, help us hear!

Teach us to see the truth at last,

To mend our future from our past,

To know thy laws and find them friends,

Leading us safe to lovely ends,

Thine own hand near.

Not one by doing right alone

Can mend the way;

But we must all do right together,—

Love, help, and serve each other, whether

We joy or suffer. So at last

Shall needless pain and death be past,

And we, thy children living here,

Be worthy⁴ of our father dear!

God speed the day!

Oh, help us, Father, from this loss

To learn thy will!

So shall our lost one live again;

So shall her life not pass in vain;

So shall we show in better living—

In loving, helping⁵, doing, giving—

That she lives still!

1 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

2 repent   

v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔

参考例句：

• He has nothing to repent of.他没有什么要懊悔的。
• Remission of sins is promised to those who repent.悔罪者可得到赦免。

3 bereft   

adj.被剥夺的

参考例句：

• The place seemed to be utterly bereft of human life.这个地方似乎根本没有人烟。
• She was bereft of happiness.她失去了幸福。

4 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。