WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT?

by: William Dean Howells (1837-1920)

      F I lay waste and wither up with doubt
      The blessed fields of heaven where once my faith
      Possessed itself serenely safe from death;
      If I deny the things past finding out;
      Or if I orphan my own soul of One
      That seemed a Father, and make void the place
      Within me where He dwelt in power and grace,
      What do I gain by that I have undone?

"What Shall it Profit?" is reprinted from The Little Book of American Poets: 1787-1900. Ed. Jessie B. Rittenhouse. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1915.

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