Faith Must Live in Us

Three freezing nights in the leaping month of spring

When buds about to burst were smitten down

And all the earth a dull and dungeon brown

Shattered were the joys to which I cling.

Though leafless trees would rest to leaf again,

Beneath the soil an energy and flow,

A Will of Life to blossom and to grow

More beautiful for suffering the pain

Of Nature in her self-destructive moods.

Each day is a struggle as the world is torn

By violence and from its beauty shorn.

I walk now through no lush and green-crowned woods,

And suddenly as I am standing there

Buds break forth upon a limb once bare.

Alone in thought, resolved within the heart

That faith must live in us lest hope depart.