I would not tarry if I could be gone <br />Adown the path where calls my eager mind. <br />That fate which knows naught but to grip and bind <br />Holds me within its grasp, a helpless pawn, <br />And checks my steps when I would travel on. <br />Forever shall my body lag behind, <br />And in this Valley with the Moaning Wind <br />Must I abide with never a glimpse of dawn? <br /> <br />Though bends my body toward the yawning sod, <br />I can endure the pain, the sorrows rife, <br />That hold me fast beneath their chastening rod, <br />If from this turmoil and this endless strife, <br />Comes there a light to lead Man nearer God, <br />And guide his footsteps toward the Larger Life.<br /><br />Joseph Seamon Cotter<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-would-not-tarry-if-i-could-be-gone/
