Classic Poem

To-day 'tis Elim, with its palms and wells,
And happy shade for desert-weariness;
'Twas Marah yesterday, all rock and sand,
Unshaded solitude and bitterness.

Yet the same desert holds them both; the same
Soft breezes wander o'er the lonely ground;
The same low stretch of valley shelters both,
And the same mountains compass them around.

So is it here with us on earth; and so
I'do remember it has ever been;
The bitter and the sweet, the grief and joy,
Lie near together, but a day between.

Sometimes God turns our bitter into sweet;
Sometimes he gives us pleasant water-springs;
Sometimes he shades us with his pillar-cloud,
And sometimes to a blessed palm-shade brings.

What matters it? The time will not be long; —
Marah and Elim will alike be past;
Our desert-wells and palms will soon be done;
We reach the city of our God at last.

O happy land! beyond these lonely hills,
Where gush in joy the everlasting springs;
O holy Paradise! above these heavens,
Where we shall end our desert-wanderings.