The same old baffling questions! O my friend, br I cannot answer them. In vain I send br My soul into the dark, where never burn br The lamps of science, nor the natural light br Of Reason's sun and stars! I cannot learn br Their great and solemn meanings, nor discern br The awful secrets of the eyes which turn br Evermore on us through the day and night br With silent challenge and a dumb demand, br Proffering the riddles of the dread unknown, br Like the calm Sphinxes, with their eyes of stone, br Questioning the centuries from their veils of sand! br I have no answer for myself or thee, br Save that I learned beside my mother's knee; br 'All is of God that is, and is to be; br And God is good.' Let this suffice us still, br Resting in childlike trust upon His will br Who moves to His great ends unthwarted by the ill.