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Thy Will Be Done

By John Greenleaf Whittier

Topics: classic

We see not, know not; all our way     Is night, with Thee alone is day     From out the torrents troubled drift,     Above the storm our prayers we lift,     Thy will be done!     The flesh may fail, the heart may faint,     But who are we to make complaint,     Or dare to plead, in times like these,     The weakness of our love of ease?     Thy will be done!     We take with solemn thankfulness     Our burden up, nor ask it less,     And count it joy that even we     May suffer, serve, or wait for Thee,     Whose will be done!     Though dim as yet in tint and line,     We trace Thy pictures wise design,     And thank Thee that our age supplies     Its dark relief of sacrifice.     Thy will be done!     And if, in our unworthiness,     Thy sacrificial wine we press;     If from Thy ordeals heated bars     Our feet are seamed with crimson scars,     Thy will be done!     If, for the age to come, this hour     Of trial hath vicarious power,     And, blest by Thee, our present pain,     Be Libertys eternal gain,     Thy will be done!     Strike, Thou the Master, we Thy keys,     The anthem of the destinies!     The minor of Thy loftier strain,     Our hearts shall breathe the old refrain,     Thy will be done!

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"We see not, know not; all our way..."

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Author:John Greenleaf Whittier

"We see not, know not; all our way..." by John Greenleaf Whittier

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

John Greenleaf Whittier

About John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) was an American Quaker poet and abolitionist whose poems—including "Snow-Bound" and "Barbara Frietchie"—celebrate New England life and moral courage. He was one of the Fireside Poets and a leading voice against slavery.

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"Gallery of sacred pictures manifold,     A minster..."

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