Forever

I learn as the years roll onward

And leave the past behind,

That much I have counted sorrow

but proves our God is kind;

That many a flower I longed for

Has a hidden thorn of pain,

And many a rugged path

Led to fields of ripened grain.



The clouds but cover the sunshine;

They cannot banish the sun.

And the earth shines out the brighter

When the weary rain is done.

We must stand in the deepest sorrow

To see the clearest light,

And often from wrong's own darkness

Comes the very strength of right.



We must live through the weary winter

If we could but value the spring,

And the woods must be cold and silent

Before the robins sing.

The flowers must be buried in darkness

Before they can bud and bloom,

And the sweetest and warmest sunshine

Comes after the storm and gloom.



So the heart from the hardest trial

Gains the purest joy of all,

And from the lips that have tasted sadness

The sweetest songs will fall.

For as peace comes after suffering,

And love is reward of pain,

So after earth comes heaven

And out of our loss the gain.