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Home  »  The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century  »  Frederick William Orde Ward (1843–1922)

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

By The Prisoner of Love (1904). VII. Losing and Saving

Frederick William Orde Ward (1843–1922)

  • “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.”
  • 2 Kings vi. 16.

  • O IF we always love the good,

    Yet stand upon the losing side

    Where martyrs have before us stood,

    And scorn the vulgar baits of pride;

    Then shall we never know retreat,

    Though suffering wrong and sore defeat.

    If we still walk the narrow way

    And stumble on the cruel stone,

    Which telleth us to pause and pray,

    While pilgrims are we left alone;

    When we seem vanquished in the fight,

    We must be victors for the right.

    If we have not a helper near

    And danger daily hems us round,

    While everywhere some foe or fear

    Encroacheth on our holiest ground;

    Ah, though we suffer grimly thus,

    The awful odds are yet with us.

    If Heaven looks veiled and shadows fall

    Upon the heart and cloud the sight,

    Or weakness garrisons our wall

    And darkness is the only light;

    Though drifting hopeless with the tide,

    We must be winners on God’s side.