once i knew the depth where no hope
was and darkness lay on face of all things.
Then love came and set my soul free.
Once i fretted and beat myself against
the wall that shut me in. My life was without
a past or future, and death a consummation
devoutly to be wished,
but a little word from the fingers of another fell
into my hands that clutched at emptiness,
and my heart leaped up with the rapture of living.
I do not know the meaning of darkness,
but i have learned the overcoming of it
from: Optimism; by Helen Keller; 1903
was and darkness lay on face of all things.
Then love came and set my soul free.
Once i fretted and beat myself against
the wall that shut me in. My life was without
a past or future, and death a consummation
devoutly to be wished,
but a little word from the fingers of another fell
into my hands that clutched at emptiness,
and my heart leaped up with the rapture of living.
I do not know the meaning of darkness,
but i have learned the overcoming of it
from: Optimism; by Helen Keller; 1903