| The Secrets of a Beautiful Life |
Chapter 16 |
Page 4 |
The blessing of such a life in this world is incalculable. It becomes a place of strength, of shelter, of comfort, of hope, to many other lives. Susan Coolidge writes of one whose heart is kindest, and whose life is a perpetual benediction:
“O heart beloved, O kindest heart!
Balming like summer and like sun
The sting of tears, the ache of sorrow,
The shy, cold hurts which sting and smart,
The frets and cares which under run
The dully day and the dreaded morrow—
How when thou comest all turns fair
Hard things seen possible to bear,
Dark things less dark, if thou art there.
“Thou keepest a climate of thine own
‘Mid earth’s wild weather and grey skies,
A soft, still air for human healing,
A genial, all-embracing zone
Where frosts smite not, nor winds arise;
And past the tempest-storm of feeling
Each grieved and weak and weary thing
Each bird with numbed and frozen wing,
May sink to rest and learn to sing.”
Then she writes, giving the secret of this wondrous power of helpfulness:
“Like some cathedral stone begirt,
Which keeps through change of cold and heat
Still temperature and equal weather,
Thy sweetness stands, untouched, unhurt,
By any mortal storms that beat,
Calm, helpful, undisturbed forever.
Dear heart, to which we all repair,
To bask in sunshine and sweet air,
God bless thee ever, everywhere.”
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