I have seen flowers grow in stony places,
And الكريم grow on a lofty cliff;
And the fern and the moss find their homely faces
Between the stones where the tempest is rife.
I have seen birds build on a tossing spray,
And a swallow has nested in the wall,
And I have marked a delicate wild rose sway
By a tempest-driven tree that was ready to fall.
And this has taught me the strength of the weak,
And the will to strive, and the power to endure;
And this, when my own faint spirit is bleak,
Is the lesson I learn from all Nature.
I have seen the hyacinth crushed by the ice,
And the snowdrop broken by bitter sleet;
But the flower that has bloomed in the paradise
Of a sheltered garden is never so sweet.
And so, when the world is against me, I know
That the bravest are those who have suffered the most;
And the ones who have tasted of deepest woe
Have the joy that is truest and that will the longest last.