Great Truths

Great truths are dearly bought, the common truths,
Such as we give and take from day to day,
Come not in the common walk of easy life,
Not blown by the careless wind across our way.

Great truths are greatly won, not found by chance,
Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream;
But grasped in the great struggle of our soul,
Hard buffeted with adverse wind and stream.

But in the day of conflict, fear and grief,
When the strong hand of God, put forth in might,
Plows up the subsoil of our stagnant heart,
And brings the imprisoned truth seed to the light.

Wrung from the troubled spirit, in hard hours
Of weakness, solitude and times of pain,
Truth springs like harvest from the well-plowed field,
And our soul feels it has not wept in vain.