Across the ocean streams a flood of light,
     Huge waves, aglow with brightness, rise and fall;
A wondrous beauty clothes the peaceful night,
     As soft the moonbeams glisten over all;
From out the dark, where dashing breakers roar,   
     One silver path creeps downward to our feet;
It sparkles, trembles, dimples to the shore,
     And stretches far, where sky and wavelets meet.

Upon life’s sea of surging human woes
     A glory shines, though dark the night and drear;
Before each soul a silver pathway glows—
     A path of duty, radiant and clear.
We cannot see another’s guide, nor view
     The whole grand glory flash from shore to shore;
One tender gleam shines ever calm and true,
     And leads to rest and peace forevermore.


This poem is in the public domain.