Hope

O Hope! into my darkened life
Thou hast so oft’ descended;
My helpless head from failure’s blows,
Thou also hast defended;
When circumstances hard, and mean,
Which I could not control,
Did make me bow my head with shame,
Thou comforted my soul.

When stumbling blocks lay all around,
And when my steps did falter,
Then did thy sacred fires burn
Upon my soul’s high altar.
Oft’ was my very blackest night
Scarce darker than my day,
But thou dispelled those clouds of doubt,
And cheered my lonely way.

E’en when I saw my friends forsake,
And leave me for another,
Then thou, O Hope, didst cling to me
Still closer than a brother;
Thus with thee near I groped my way
Through that long, gloomy night
Till now; yes, as I speak, behold,
I see the light! the light!

Theodore Henry Shackelford