We would see Jesus when our hopes are brightest
And all that earth can grant is at its best;
When not a drift of shadow, even the lightest,
Blurs our clear atmosphere of perfect rest.
We would see Jesus when the joy of living
Holds all our senses in a realm of bliss,
That we may know he hath the power of giving
Enduring rapture more supreme than this.
We would see Jesus when our pathway darkens,
Beneath the dread of some impending ill;
When the discouraged soul no longer harkens
To hope, who beckons in the distance still.
We would see Jesus when the stress of sorrow
Strains to their utmost tension heart and brain;
That he may teach us how despair may borrow
From faith the one sure antidote of pain.
We would see Jesus when our best are taken,
And we must meet, unshared, all shocks of woe;
Because he bore for us, alone, forsaken,
Burdens whose weight no human heart could know.
We would see Jesus when our fading vision,
Lost to the consciousness of earth and sky,
Has only insight for the far elysian;
We would see Jesus when we come to die!
--Margaret J. Preston.