Compensations

Not with a flash that rends the blue Shall fall the avenging sword. Gently as the evening dew Descends the mighty Lord. His dreadful balances are made To move with moon and tide; Yet shall not mercy be afraid Nor justice be denied. The dreams that seemed to waste away, The kindliness forgot, Were singing in your heart today Although you knew them not. The sun shall not forget his road, Nor the high stars their rhyme, The traveller with the heavier load Has one less hill to climb. And, though a darker shadow fall On every struggling age, How shall it be if, after all, He share our pilgrimage? The end we mourn is not the end. The dust has nimble wings. But truth and beauty have a friend At the deep heart of things. He will not speak? What friend belies His love with idle breath? We read it in each others' eyes, And ask no more in death.