Streams in the Desert

There is a peace that springs soon after sorrow,
     Of hope surrendered, not of hope fulfilled;
A peace that does not look upon tomorrow,
     But calmly on the storm that it has stilled. 

A peace that lives not now in joy's excesses,
     Nor in the happy life of love secure;
But in the unerring strength the heart possesses,
     Of conflicts won while learning to endure. 

A peace there is, in sacrifice secluded,
     A life subdued, from will and passion free;
It's not the peace that over Eden brooded,
     But that which triumphed in Gethsemane.

~Streams in the Desert, December 9