If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back -
“Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track;
And if, perchance, Faith’s light is dim, because the oil is low,
Your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.
Call back, and tell me that he went with you into the storm;
Call back, and say he kept you when the forest’s roots were torn;
That, when the heavens thunder and earthquake shook the hill,
He bore you up and held you where the very air was still.
Oh, friend, call back, and tell me for I cannot see your face;
They say it glows with triumph, and your feet bound in the race;
But there are mists between us and my spirit eyes are dim,
And I cannot see the glory, though I long for word of him.
But if you say he heard you when your prayer was but a cry,
And if you say he saw you through the night’s sin-darkened sky –
If you have gone a little way ahead, oh, friend, call back –
“Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track.
December 19th entry in “Streams in the Desert” by Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman.
