Peace After Sorrow

There is a peace that cometh after sorrow,

Of hope surrendered, not hope fulfilled.

A peace that looketh not upon tomorrow,

But calmly on a tempest that is stilled.

A peace that lives not now in joy’s excesses,

Nor in the happy life of love secure;

But in the unerring strength the heart possesses,

Of conflicts won while learning to endure.

A peace there is, in sacrifice secluded,

A life subdued from will and passion free

‘Tis not the peace that over Eden brooded,

But that which triumphed in Gethsemene.


Jessie Rose Gates 1897