Streams in the Desert

Should Sorrow lay her hand upon thy shoulder,

And walk with thee in silence on life's way,

While Joy, thy bright companion once, grown colder,

Becomes to thee more distant day by day?

Shrink not from the companionship of Sorrow,

She is the messenger of God to thee;

And thou wilt thank Him in His great tomorrow - 

For what thou knowest not now, thou then shalt see;

She is God's angel, clad in weeds of night,

With "whom we walk by faith and not by sight."

-from Streams in the Desert