[Holy Week]: #6; Knowledge Through Suffering

I knew Thee not, Thou wounded Son of God,
Till I with Thee the path of suffering trod;
Till in the valley, through the gloom of night,
I walked with Thee, and turned to Thee for light.

I did not know the mystery of love,
The love that doth the fruitless branch remove;
The love that spares not e'en the fruitful tree,
But prunes, that it may yet more fruitful be.

I did not know the meaning of the Cross:
I counted it but bitterness and loss:
'Till in Thy gracious discipline of pain
I found the loss I dreaded purest gain.

And shall I cry, e'en on the darkest day,
"Lord of all mercy, take my cross away"?
Nay, in the Cross I saw Thine open face,
And found therein the fulness of Thy grace.

--George Wallace Briggs