I

I found the clue I sought not in the night, While wandering in a pathless maze of gloom; The sky was hidden behind shapes of doom; There was no moon, nor any star in sight.

My hopes, my dreams and my beliefs were slain; Like corpses on a battlefield they lay;

The world was but a graveyard dark with clay; The stiffling cloud denied one drop of rain;

When from the giddy marge of the abyss I cried aloud in agony and fear,

When suddenly it seemed my single tear Stretched and became a shining bridge to bliss.

I stood before a topless gate. Within I guessed the light, I dared not enter in.

II

One day I heard a whisper: ‘Wherefore wait? Why linger in a separated porch?

Why nurse the flicker of a severed torch?

The fire is there, ablaze beyond the gate.

Why tremble, foolish soul? Why hesitate? However faint the knock it will be heard.’

I knocked, and swiftly came the answering word, Which bade me enter to my own estate.

I found myself in a familiar place;

And there my broken soul began to mend;

I knew the smile of every long-lost face— They whom I had forgot remembered me;

I knelt, I knew—it was too bright to see— The welcome of a King who was my friend.

Ill

My treasure and my resting-place are found,

My mother-land, my immemorial home;

Beyond the reefs of treasonable foam,

I know the lights are flashing on the sound. Lightning may strike, and hurricane may blow, Whatever shall befall I cannot fear:

Whether the hour be faraway or near,

That tranquil harbour shines and waits, I know.