The Open Door

Alfred Noyes 1880 (Wolverhampton) – 1958 (Isle of Wight)



O Mystery of life,
That, after all our strife,
Defeats, mistakes,
Just as, at last, we see
The road to victory,
The tired heart breaks.

Just as the long years give
Knowledge of how to live,
Life's end draws near;
As if, that gift being ours,
God needed our new powers
In worlds elsewhere.

There, if the soul whose wings
Were won in suffering, springs
To life anew,
Justice would have some room
For hope beyond the tomb,
And mercy, too.

And since, without this dream
No light, no faintest gleam
Answers our 'why';
But earth and all its race
Must pass and leave no trace
On that blind sky;

Shall reason close that door
On all we struggled for,
Seal the soul's doom;
Make of this universe
One wild answering curse,
One lampless tomb?

Mine be the dream, the creed
That leaves for God, indeed,
For God, and man,
One open door whereby
To prove His world no lie
And crown His plan.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

50 sec read
94

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCCB XXXDDX EEFGGF HHIJJI KKGLLG MMNIIN
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 847
Words 166
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

Alfred Noyes

Alfred Noyes was an English poet best known for his ballads The Highwayman 1906 and The Barrel Organ more…

All Alfred Noyes poems | Alfred Noyes Books

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