O Mystery of life, <br />That, after all our strife, <br />Defeats, mistakes, <br />Just as, at last, we see <br />The road to victory, <br />The tired heart breaks. <br /> <br />Just as the long years give <br />Knowledge of how to live, <br />Life's end draws near; <br />As if, that gift being ours, <br />God needed our new powers <br />In worlds elsewhere. <br /> <br />There, if the soul whose wings <br />Were won in suffering, springs <br />To life anew, <br />Justice would have some room <br />For hope beyond the tomb, <br />And mercy, too. <br /> <br />And since, without this dream <br />No light, no faintest gleam <br />Answers our 'why'; <br />But earth and all its race <br />Must pass and leave no trace <br />On that blind sky; <br /> <br />Shall reason close that door <br />On all we struggled for, <br />Seal the soul's doom; <br />Make of this universe <br />One wild answering curse, <br />One lampless tomb? <br /> <br />Mine be the dream, the creed <br />That leaves for God, indeed, <br />For God, and man, <br />One open door whereby <br />To prove His world no lie <br />And crown His plan.<br /><br />Alfred Noyes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-open-door-8/
