Classic Poem

GETTYSBURG TO COLD HARBOR P RELUDE

A LAS war's savage thunder
And murderous bolts of fire!
Faith stands aghast with wonder
And shame at time so dire.
Where is the comprehending
That can aright explain
How God permits forspending
By cross and spike and pain
Of those His own anointed ones
He joys to name beloved sons?

O Love, the Sufferer! Thou only can'st inform
Thy brothers falling, falling, before Un-reason's storm.
Alas war's crushing anguish,
And sickening seals of death!
Life's dreams of beauty languish
'Neath evil's ravening breath.
Whose is the far pursuing
That can invade the skies
And learn why man's undoing
Halts not all-seeing eyes
Which through the earth run to and fro
For sonship's sake God's strength to show?

O Love, the Conqueror! Thou only can'st translate
Ruin to breaking souls upon the wheel of fate.