Pain – anonymous

                              Pain

The cry of man’s anguish went up to God,
   “Lord, take away pain!
The shadow that darkens the world Thou has made;
   The close, coiling chain
That strangles the heart: the burden that weighs
   On the wings that would soar –
Lord, take away pain from the world Thou hast made
   That it love Thee the more!” 

Then answered the Lord to the cry of the world,
   “Shall I take away pain,
And with it the power of the soul to endure
   Made strong by the strain?
Shall I take away pity that knits heart to heart,
   And sacrifice high?
Will ye lose all your heroes that lift from the fire
   White brows to the sky?
Shall I take away love that redeems with a price,
   And smiles with its loss?
Can ye spare from your lives that would cling unto mine
   The Christ on his cross?”

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* found on a hospital wall

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