Peter E. Browne, "Content With My Own Calling" (1909)
Which, far away, some tale had heard
Of aching hearts and lives grown sad,
Of souls which comfort never had,
I'd come and haunt their dismal way
And gaily sing my sweetest lay,
To draw their cheerless hearts away
From sorrow and from sighing.
If I were a stream, a lovely stream,
Winding amid some perfect dream
Of woodland beauty,and had learned
How travelers thirst and poets yearned,
I'd call the thirsty ones to drink;
Bid poet, while I sing, to think
And hope I'd draw them from the brink
Of blank discouragement.
If I were a star, a distant star,
Shining in beauty from afar
O'er desert waste,on tangled wood
Where some poor soul in darkness stood,
I'd concentrate my rays of light
Upon his path of deepest night
To light him in his way aright
From groping, stumbling, falling.
If I were an angel, angel fair,
Speeding God's message (far and near
O'er land and sea where'er man dwell)
Of love and life through Christ, I'd tell
That message in my sweetest tone;
Would teach -- plead that men might own
Their sin, repent, and at God's throne
Redemption seek from dying.
But now that I am amortal man,
Created by God's holy hand
Like angel, star, like bird, like stream,
Which each doth do its task and seem
Content - since God in Providence
Hath made me this, Omnipotence
Rules all supreme,and Iam still,
Silenced by His own holy will:
For I must be more fit by far
To be a man than stream or star,
Than bird or angel,more or less;
I'll cheer and charm and light and bless,
I'll fructify just as I am,
Make use the powers God gave to man,
And do e'en more than angels can,
Content with my own calling.
Published in Colored American Magazine, Feburary 1909