A Problem

Too old for heat from days of youthful prime;
Too young for light beyond this screen of time;
Too wise to follow guides who once deceived,
And trust the creeds in cruder years believed ;
And yet too ignorant of the hidden ways
Beyond the boundary of his earthly days,—
Can men or angels find a place for him,
Some phase of being as his eyes grow dim,
Where past and future rays shall meet and blend
To warm and brighten ere his journey end?
Where Age can say, “ Earth’s youth, thy heat is mine ;
And thou, O Life to come, my Light divine! ”

Christopher P. Cranch.