ALWAYS A RIVER TO CROSS

There is always a river to cross;
Always an effort to make
If there’s anything good to win,
Any rich prize to take.
Yonder’s the fruit we crave,
Yonder the charming scene;
But deep and wide, with a troubled tide,
Is the river that lies between.

For the treasures of precious worth
We must patiently dig and dive;
For the places we long to fill
We must push and struggle and strive.
And always and everywhere
We’ll find, on our onward course,
Thorns for the feet and trials to meet
And a difficult river to cross.

For the rougher the way that we take,
The stouter the heart and the nerve;
The stones in our path we break,
Nor e’er from our impulse swerve.
For the glory we hope to win
Our labors we count no loss;
Tis folly to pause and murmur because
Of the river we have to cross.

So, ready to do and to dare,
Should we in our places stand,
Fulfilling the Master’s will,
Fulfilling the soul’s demand;
For though as the mountain high
The billows may war and toss,
They’ll not overwhelm if the Lord’s at the helm
When the difficult river we cross.