The Future Kindly Veiled

If I should know the joy 

That lies before me,

If I could open now

The future’s door

And count the treasure waiting there for me,

How dull, how hard, how long

Today’s set of tasks would be!

If I should know what tears

Would blind my eyes,

If I could read just now

The stormy skies

Tomorrow’s dawn may usher in for me,

Today would lose the light

Of its felicity.

I know not—yet I know;

The future’s veil

Is kindly to my eyes.

With joy I hail

Whatever life sends down the path to me

Because I know so well

Both smiles and tears shall be

The best, the very best; if sweet,

If bitter, or if tasteless prove

The portion I must quaff,

Serene I onward move,

Sustained by trust no doubt can mar

That all will priceless prove.

            - Ida Melville Shaw