Trust Poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
Trust
The same old baffling questions! O my friend,
I cannot answer them. In vain I send
My soul into the dark, where never burn
The lamps of science, nor the natural light
Of Reason's sun and stars! I cannot learn
Their great and solemn meanings, nor discern
The awful secrets of the eyes which turn
Evermore on us through the day and night
With silent challenge and a dumb demand,
Proffering the riddles of the dread unknown,
Like the calm Sphinxes, with their eyes of stone,
Questioning the centuries from their veils of sand!
I have no answer for myself or thee,
Save that I learned beside my mother's knee;
'All is of God that is, and is to be;
And God is good.' Let this suffice us still,
Resting in childlike trust upon His will
Who moves to His great ends unthwarted by the ill.
This is a question of faith that is generally introduced by a child's mother and then reinforced by the society. Sometimes, scientific reasoning is unable to give a plausible explanation. Let us carry our faith or trust as well as science without their being at loggerheads. Thanks.
This is so beautifully and lucidly written. It is not often that a question like this is discussed in such a poetic way. There really shouldn't be the feeling you have to take sides in this science vs religion thing. Time after time, science has to revise its theories and people have to reread their Bibles w/o trying to prove themselves right, just reading to understand what God is saying.
Yes some questions may not have answers and we have to simply accept them! Yes we learbn basing things by our mother's knee!
A beautifully envisioned great poem on an unique institution called Mother that commands full trust and faith of the child. Thanks for sharing it here.
A question that no reason or scilence can answer, secretly, the poet might have answered it vaguely!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/19/2024 7:05:57 AM # 1.0.0.1119
I learned beside my mother's knee! Thanks for sharing this poem with us.