Hope

[Image: Vitali Linitsky "Christmas Visitation]

When we were lost in the night

Down grass-paths old,   

Miserable, without light,

Hungry and cold,

Then your voice cried 'Hush !' through the dark.

We saw no lantern nor heard

Any man near:

But we stood still at the word

With hope to hear,

For your voice cried 'Hush !' through the dark.

When Satan had hold on me

To make an end,

In heaven, in earth, I could see

Sign of no friend :

Then your voice cried 'Hush !' through the dark.

Does one draw near where I grope,

To put off death ?

I see him not, nor have hope,

Yet hold my breath :

For your voice cried 'Hush !' through the dark.

Charles Williams

Poems of Conformity (1917)